Riyadh, Feb 13 (IANS) A solid round of 4-under 68 saw Avani Prashanth move up to Tied-22nd place with one more day left in the PIF Saudi Ladies International Championship at Riyadh Golf Club. The leading Indian of the three who made the halfway cut, Avani (69-71-68), had five birdies against one bogey and has a chance to make further improvement.

Her other two Indian colleagues, Aditi Ashok (72-69-71), were T-54, while Pranavi Urs (73-69-71) was T-57.

The other two Indians, Diksha Dagar and Hitaashee Bakshi, had missed the cut.

First round leader, Hye-Jinn Choi of Korea, returned to the top with a round of 65, and she is now 15-under and tied with Japan’s Rio Takeda (69-66-66). South African Cassandra Alexander (67-67-68) is sole third, while second round leader Mimi Rhodes slipped to T-13 with a card of even par 72, and she is 11-under.

Three of the five Indians in the fray in the event survived the halfway cut at the Riyadh Golf Club. The best of the lot was the youngest star, Avani Prashanth, who added a fighting 1-under 71 to her first round 3-under 69 to get to 4-under total. She was 35th.

Aditi Ashok, a five-time winner on LET, shot a solid 33-under 69 to get to 3-under total and was Tied-43rd, while Pranavi Urs (69) played a bogey-free round. After paring the entire back nine, which was her first nine, Pranavi had three birdies, which helped her make up for her first round 73. At 2-under total, she was T-51 and ensured herself the weekend action.

Diksha Dagar was unlucky to miss out by one shot as she carded 2-over 74, and her total of 1-under for two rounds saw her make an early exit. Hitaashee Bakshi (74-72) also missed the cut. Diksha had two bogeys and could not get her putts to fall, and was left without a single birdie.

Avani, an early starter from the tenth tee, made a great recovery after being 2-over through her first six holes. She dropped shots on the 11th and the 15th. She fought back superbly with a birdie on the 18th and added two more on the fifth and the seventh to give herself a chance to make up further ground on the weekend.

Aditi, who was in the first group from the first tee, had an early bogey on the second but then picked four birdies without dropping any more shots for a 69.

–IANS

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