Kolkata’s La Martiniere schools have maintained their great record in India’s largest and oldest junior golf championship by winning the majority of the category titles at the 17th edition of the Inter School Golf Championship, which had My Kolkata as the digital partner.
The latest edition of the tournament ended at the Tollygunge Club on Friday (March 25) after two days of hard-fought contests. The cloudy weather, interspersed with strong summer sun, made for challenging conditions with the breeze dying and the humidity soaring.
Played in the Fourball Better Ball (4BBB) stroke play format, players were paired in teams of two, each with their own balls throughout the rounds, as opposed to swapping shots. On each hole, teammates were asked to compare their scores with the lower of the two scores, representing the better ball, chosen to tabulate the team total. The team with the lowest score topped the leaderboard.
Having started off with just 30 junior golfers from five schools in 2005, the championship saw 113 players, spread across 18 schools across eastern India, tee off this time.
Following two days of fierce golfing action, the winners of the six categories were as follows:
Rakshik Basu and Suveer Kapoor from La Martinere for Boys, who won the Overall Over 13 Years category Protouch Sports
Overall Under 9 Years:
Hrian Khem and Akshansh Modi from La Martiniere for Boys won with a score of 90 while Reyansh Goenka and Aarav Kanoi representing the same school shot a total of 97 to grab the second spot.
Girls Under 9 Years:
Vaanyaa Rustagi and Vaasvi Himatsingka from Modern High School for Girls clinched this category after carding 102 in both days.
Girls Under 13 Years:
Ishikha Bansal and Samaira Chitlangia from La Martiniere for Girls sealed this category with an overall score of 191, while Julinka Roy Chowdhury from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan finished second with a score of 201.
High humidity and little to no breeze made for challenging conditions for the golfers on both days of the competition Protouch Sports
Overall Under 13 Years:
Varish Mohta and Hredaan Raj Bihani from Calcutta International School came out on top following a card of 77 in the second round, which took their overall score to 150. Rayan Sao and Shloke Guha Mazumdar representing La Martiniere for Boys grabbed the second spot after carding 155 in two days.
Overall Over 13 Years:
Rakshik Basu and Suveer Kapoor scored three over 73 in the final round to win the winner's trophy with a total score of 141. The Rakshik-Suveer duo from La Martiniere for Boys defeated Anshul Mishra and Dishan Ghosh from The Heritage School in a third-hole playoff to win the championship for the third time.
Girls Over 13 Years:
Anaahat Bindra and Tarushi Jain from La Martiniere for Girls triumphed with an overall score of 150 while Sinjini Mukherjee and Suparna Dey from Basha-CFL School took home the runners-up trophy (156).
Before hosting the Inter School Golf Championship, Tollygunge Club had also been the venue for the Players Championship Trophy as part of the PGTI Tour Protouch Sports
The prize distribution ceremony was held at the Yule Hall, Tollygunge Club, in the presence of Joydeep Datta Gupta (president, Tollygunge Club), Capt. Sanjiv Dhir (vice president, Tollygunge Club), Deep Banerjee (golf vice captain, Tollygunge Club), Anil Mukerji (CEO, Tollygunge Club), Vandana Agarwal (golf committee member) and Sumitra Ray (student programme advisor, Prabha Khaitan Foundation).
The Inter School Golf Championship was in partnership with Muskaan, a pan-India initiative of Prabha Khaitan Foundation and the Education For All Trust aimed at promoting skill development among children through webinars, courses and workshops. The outdoor media partner for the event was Balaji Ads and the tournament was organised and managed by Protouch Sports.