Published: Mar 15, 2014, 06:08 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 15, 2014, 06:08 PM (IST)
Kolkata: Mar 15, 2014
Former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev finished third at the annual All-India Senior’s Golf Championship played at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata. Kapil turned in a total score of 235 over 54 holes.
Noida’s Gangesh Khaitan shot a total of 233 over the three-day tournament to win the title for players’ age 55 years and above to win the title by just one stroke over Vijay Kumar, also from Noida Golf Course, who was at 234 for the 54 holes.
One stroke behind was Kapil, who was leading the tournament after two rounds but faltered at the closing stages to allow Khaitan and Kumar to pass him after a very close battle among the three players over the course of three days.
Other category winners were Delhi’s Gagan Verma [Mid-Senior], Lakshman Singh — Kolkata’s former Asian Games gold medalist and Arjuna Award winner [in age group 60 years and above] and Delhi’s Kishan Bajoria [65 years and above].
“It’s always better to win than lose but I enjoyed the fight over three days. Guys like Gangesh Khaitan have been playing at the national level since their teenage years and I took up the game only after retiring from international cricket so I am happy to be competing at their level at this age,” Kapil said.
Former men’s international, Khaitan who was named as captain for Asia-Pacific Seniors Golf Championship twice by the Indian Golf Union, said, “It was a huge honour playing with the cricketing legend Kapil Dev and a bunch of friends, many of us play together regularly anyway.”
