Higher league: Aman Raj. Telegraph picture

Patna boy Aman Raj won laurels for the state after he ranked fourth in the Ryo Ishikawa World Junior Invitational golf championship held at Royal Meadow Gold stadium in Tokyo, Japan, from August 1-5.

Raj, a Class XII student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bailey Road in Patna, was among the top five scorers at the championship, which concluded on Sunday. Forty-two boys participated in the event.

In the 7,152 yards Par-72 long course, Raj’s four-round score was 72,74,69 and 71 (total 286 i.e. 2 under the course).

The top five players — Yunhan Jeong (Korea) scored 277, Reo Hiruta (Japan) 284, Humiaki Saito (Japan) 285, Aman Raj (India) 286 and Kinoshita Kohei (Japan) 287 respectively.

Shashi Raj Sinha, a well-known golf coach and father of Raj, said his son was a budding golfer and would be able to make his mark among the top golf players in the near future.

Sinha added that Raj, who is very popular among the Patna Golf Club players, performed well at the championship and secured the fourth position because “he is a strong-headed boy”.

“He has made the state as well as the country proud with his good performance at an international championship,” said Sinha, who is also associated with the National Golf Academy of India.

Sinha said Raj had won the prestigious Usha IGU Karnataka Open Junior Golf Championship held in Bangalore in May 2011. “He also represented India at the Asian Junior Golf Team Championship held in Malaysia earlier this year,” he added.

Sinha said though golf is an expensive sport, he would provide all assistance to Raj to make him a player of international repute.

“Raj has the potential and can reach the top,” an overwhelmed Sinha said.

Other Indian players — Abhishek Kuhar and Shubhanker Sharma (both from New Delhi) secured the 23rd position with the score of 299 each.

Among the 32 girl participants, Indians Gurbani Singh and Millie Saroha (both from New Delhi) were placed sixth and seventh with 297 and 298 scores respectively.