Abhinav fires nine-under-61 for first round lead at Jaipur Open

Abhinav Lohan went on a birdie-spree in the opening round of the TATA Steel PGTI's Jaipur Open, firing a sensational nine-under-61 to take the lead here Tuesday.

The Faridabad-based Lohan, who plays at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurugram, finished his round with an astounding seven consecutive birdies at the Rambagh Golf Club.

Gurugram-based Shivendra Singh Sisodia and Bengaluru's M Dharma also came up with captivating rounds of eight-under-62 to end the first day in tied second place.

The 29-year-old Abhinav, a member of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2010 Asian Games, capitalized on the momentum from his last outing at the Asian Tour event played at the Classic Golf & Country Club where he had finished tied 21st with a total of 10-under.

Shivendra fired six successive birdies from the 18th to the fifth during his round of 62 while Dharma shot the same number without dropping a bogey.

The Chandigarh pair of Karandeep Kochhar and Akshay Sharma were joint fourth along with Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow at seven-under-63.

Defending champion Aman Raj of Patna and pre-tournament favourite Rashid Khan of Delhi were both among the bunch of players in tied 15th with scores of 66.

Indian star Jyoti Randhawa delivered a 68 to be tied 38th.

Hemendra Choudhary was the highest-ranked Jaipur-based player in tied 52nd as he fired a 69.