RAWALPINDI, Sep 16: Umair Saleem led both the net and gross events in the juniors category of the COAS Open Championship that began at the Rawalpindi Golf Club on Thursday.

The youngster carded 66 net to finish the day ahead of Farrukh Paracha who was 68 net. In third place was Haider Atiq with net 71. In the gross event, Umair had a score of 81 and was followed by Haider with 82 while Farrukh stood third on 90.

Ch. Iftikhar was in front with 74 in the senior professionals category. Akbar Ali was three strokes behind on 77 while M. Rafiq who carded 79 was third. The subsidiary competition saw Aslam Raja lead the field in net as well as gross events. He had a score of 67 net and was being followed by Dr. Wajahat who carded 70 net.

On the gross side, Aslam scored 81 with Hamid Butt following on 85. The championship is due to begin in earnest on Friday when the professionals take the field. Some of the lower-ranked pros went through the qualifying round on Thursday.