Jaipur: Kolkata lad Viraj Madappa who has been selected for the Indian team for upcoming Nomura Cup 2013, extended his lead to eight shots after submitting a level par card of 70 in the second round of the IGU Rajasthan Juniors Golf Championship being played at the Rambagh Golf Club here on Wednesday. Viraj who shot a blemish-free opening round of 8-under 62 was in the driver’s seat with a total of 132 after 36 holes of play.

Top junior Manu Gandas was second at 140 while Shubham Narain was third at 141. On a day when the winds put brakes on an attacking golfer, Tapendra Ghai shot the best round of 2-under par 68 to be placed fourth at 143 along with Pukhraj Singh Gill. Prakhar Asawa was sixth at 144 while Yuvraj Sandhu was sixth at 145.

Viraj, a 10th tee starter, seemed to continue from where he left as he birdied his opening hole while repeating the feat on the 13th. However with a double on the par-5 14th he was back to even par. Saving a stroke on the next par-5, the 17th, Viraj took the turn at 1-under. With the lead increasing to 10 shots, Viraj took a bit easy and paid the penalty as he bogeyed the second and fifth before making amends with some solid pars including a birdie on the seventh.

“Although I committed a couple of mistakes which could have been avoided, I am happy the way I played,” said the 15 year old. “I would surely like to win the tournament from here. Even though I have a eight-shot cushion, I will not take it easy,” added the leader.

Top scores after 36 holes

132 Viraj Madappa (62, 70); 140 Manu Gandas (68, 72); 141 Shubham Narain (68, 73); 143 Tapendra Ghai (75, 68), Pukhraj Singh Gill (68, 75); 144 Prakhar Asawa (73, 71); 145 Yuvraj Sandhu (72, 73); 146 Mohan Sardar (73, 73); 149 Feroz Singh Garewal (76, 73), Gurkirat Singh (74, 75), Piyush Sangwan (74, 75); 150 Ritwik Jain (77, 73).