Favorites Advance in the 90th All India

New Delhi, Feb 8 (UNI) The first round of the 90th All India Amateur Golf Championship saw no upsets but third seed Meghna Bal came through only after a strong challenge from debutant and thirteen-year-old Karishma Tyagraj.

The other top seeds had no problems -- Shruti beat Zimbabwe's Alex Bell 7/6, young Laverry Kumar disposed of the remaining Zimbabwean challenge, experienced Jessie Nyakatawa.

A determined Vaishavi Sinha won agaisnt Noida's Nalini Singh 6/5 while Shweta Galande swept Chandigarh's Mani Chander away with and identical margin. Striking the ball with great confidence 6 seed Pragya Misra proved too good for a courageous Lalitha Balasubramanium to win 7/6.

In the Vikramaditya Trophy 11 year old Gurbani Singh won 5/4 over Usha Chatrath and three other juniors came through to the next round. The only tight matches were between Mandy Patterson and senior golfer Sonia Barman with Sonia winning one up. Young Meher Gupta fought all the way against a tough senior opponent Ritu Lumba, until the 19th hole where youth emerged the victor.

UNI