New Delhi: Overnight leader Viraj Madappa carded a level par 72 to retain his position at the end of the second round of the IGU Northern India Juniors 2013 being played at the Army Environmental Park and Training Area Golf Club, here on on Wednesday. Viraj's two-day total read 5-under 139.

Tapendra Ghai was placed second at level-par 144 after a round of 1–over par. Manu Gandas occupied the third position at 147 while Ritwik Jain and Yuvraj Sandhu were fourth and fifth with totals of 148 and 150 respectively for 36 holes.

On a day where the golf course restricted the players to a conservative play, Viraj managed to break the shackles by making birdies on the
second, fourth and sixth before dropping a shot on the par-5 eighth to take the turn at 2 – under par. On the back nine Viraj faltered to drop two more shots and finish the day at level par. “It was tough out there today; I had some great opportunities to score but could not make it count. I hope to play a better game of golf tomorrow and widen my lead here” said the 15 year old boy from Kolkata.

In Category B Karandeep Kochar finished at 3 –over par to be tied on top of the leader board with a total of 152 along with Kartik Sharma. Adilbir Singh took the third position with the best round of the day in category B at 2 – over par. Meanwhile overnight leader Arjun Prasad slipped to the 4th position after carding an 11 – over par round on the second round.

Top Scores after 36 holes

CATEGORY A

139 Viraj Madappa (67, 72); 144 Tapendra Ghai (71, 73); 147 Manu Gandas (74, 73); 148 Ritwik Jain (75, 73); 150 Yuvraj Sandhu (75, 75), Mohan Sardar (74, 76)

CATEGORY B

152 Karandeep Kochar (77, 75), Kartik Sharma (76, 76); 153 Adilbir Singh (79, 74); 156 Arjun Prasad (79, 74).