Tanka Bahadur Karki carded two-under 70 to take the first round lead at the eighth Nepal Open Amateur Golf Championship at the par-72 Gokarna Golf Club on Wednesday.

Defending champion Tashi Tshiring was one stroke behind in second after shooting one-under 71. Wangchen Dhondup was in third at even-par 72. Sukra Bahadur Rai carded three-over 75 while Sunil KC and Subash Tamang were next at four-over 76. Ajit BK, Niraj Tamang and Surendra Phuyal were at five-over 77. Binod Tamang, Yubraj Bhujel and Bangladeshi Md Shahabuddin are at six-over 78. Karki carded two-under 34 on the front and even-par 36 on the back nine. He sank a birdie on the first hole, had a double-bogey on the second but recovered with a birdie on third, fifth, ninth, 12th 13th and 18th. Karki also had bogeys on 14th 16th and 17th holes.

Tshiring shot even-par 36 on the first nine with birdie on the third against a bogey on the ninth holes. On the back nine, Tshiring sank birdies on the 12th, 14th and 17th holes against bogeys on 10th and 15th holes. Dhondup sank a birdie on the first hole but dropped shot on the fifth hole. He added another  birdie on the seventh but had a double-bogey on the very next hole for one-over 37 first nine card. On the second nine holes, Dhondup sank birdies on the 12th, 13th and 17th against bogeys on 14th and 16th for one-under 35 score.

Rai played an even-par 36 on the front nine with a birdie on the seventh against a bogey on the eighth. On his way back, Rai shot three-over 39 with birdies on the 10th and 17th against bogey on the 15th and quadruple-bogey on the 14th.

Nepal ‘A’ comprising of Tanka Bahadur Karki (70) and Sukra Bahadur Rai (75) lead the team event with a total score of 145. Yubraj Bhujel  (78) and Niraj Tamang (77)  of Nepal ‘C’ were next at 155. Bangladesh team of Md Shahabuddin (78) and Md Sumon (79) were at 157.

In all five teams—three from Nepal and one each from Bhutan and Bangladesh—are taking part in the team event that will be played over 36 holes. Nepal Golf Association is the organisers of the 54-holes tournament.