The tougher back nine here at the Aamby Valley Green Golf Course showed its teeth and extracted three shots from the leaders, Pranavi Urs (68-72) and Hitaashee Bakshi (67-74). Pranavi, who won the first leg, and Hitaashee, who won the third leg, were first and second.
The lead duo along with Ridhima Dilawari, who had the day's best card of 2-under 70, were the only ones with under-par totals. Pranavi was 4-under par 140, while Hitaashee was 3-under par 141 and Ridhima was 1-under 143.
Vani Kapoor, who had one of the rare birdies on the final hole, shot 1-under 71 and was placed fourth at 1-over 145, as she had 74 in the first round.
Pranavi, who had a superb 4-under 68 in the first round, looked set for another solid round as birdies on first and fourth saw her turn in 2-under. On the back nine, she dropped shots on the 13th, 15th and 17th against one birdie on Par-5 14th.
Hitaashee, who played bogey-free on the first day, was one-under for the front nine and dropped three shots on the back nine on the 12th, 13th and 15th. Her only birdie of the day was on the Par-3 sixth.
Experienced Amandeep Drall (75-73) and Gaurika Bishnoi (74-74) were tied fifth at 148 and Jahanvi Bakshi (77-73) was lying seventh.
Amateur Jasmine Shekhar had a roller coaster of a round with an eagle-2 on Par 4 11th besides three birdies, four bogeys and two doubles. She finished with four pars for a card of 75 and was eighth.
Durga Nittur (76-78) was ninth, while four players, Jyotsana Singh, amateur Vidhatri Urs, Asmitha Sathish and Rhea Purvi Sarvanan were tied for the tenth place at 155.
The cut fell at 161 and the top-20 players made the final round. The casualties included Lakhmehar Pardesi, Gauri Karhade and Astha Madan.
The final round will see Pranavi, Hitaashee and Ridhima in the lead group with Vani, Amandeep and Gaurika one group ahead of them.
( With inputs from ANI )
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