Top seeds Sukra Bahadur Rai and Bhuvan Nagarkoti registered wins on the opening day of the Surya Nepal NPGA Match Play to advance into the quarter-final at the Royal Nepal Golf Club on Tuesday.

Nepal No. 1 pro Rai pulled off a convincing 5&4 victory over 20th ranked Tanka Bahadur Karki in the first round match. Rai will meet No. 10 Bhuvan Kumar Rokka, who saw off the ninth-ranked Rame Magar 2&1.

Second-seeded Nagarkoti saw off the 19th ranked Sanjog Moktan 2&1. Defending champion Nagarkoti set up the last eight meeting with Dhana Bahadur Thapa who earned 3&2 victory over No. 11 Bal Bhadra Rai.

Apart from them, Jayaram Shrestha, Rabi Khadka, Dinesh Prajapati, and Ramesh Adhikari also secured quarter-final berths at the third event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2022-23.

Third-ranked Shrestha edged past No. 17 Krishna Man Rajbahak on the final hole (1-up) to set up the quarter-final with No. 7 Prajapati. Prajapati toiled hard for a 1-up win against No. 12 Surya Prasad Sharma.

No. 5 Khadka edged past No. 15 Pradip Kumar Lama 2&1 in the first round. He will play against Adhikari in the next stage. Adhikari registered an upset victory over the fifth-ranked Sanjay Lama 3&1.

The quarter-final and semi-final matches will be played on Wednesday, while the third-place and final games will take place on Thursday. The final will be played over 36 holes while other matches will be played over 18 holes.

The tournament organised by PGA Nepal under the sponsorship of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd carries a total purse of Rs250,000, with the winner walking away with Rs 60,000.