India's Anirban Lahiri was tied sixth at the end of the first round in the men's golf competition at the 15th Asian Games in Doha on Friday.

The promising 19-year-old shot a three-under 69 to be placed three shots behind Chinese Taipei's 15-year-old Cheng Tsung Pan, at the 7,122 yard par-72 Doha Golf Club.

The best Indian in the women's section, Meghna Bal (71), was tied seventh.

India are lying fourth in the men's team competition and sixth in the corresponding women's event.

The golfers adjusted well to the winds blowing across the course and were not bothered by the rain that began as the first group teed off at 7 am local time.

Pan, the younger of the two brothers playing in Doha, compiled eight birdies against two bogeys for a six-under par 66 to take a two-shot lead.

Gaganjeet Bhullar shot a two-under 70 and was tied 11th, while Chiragh Kumar (71) was tied 17th and Joseph Chakola (73) tied 22nd.

Things looked a bit better for the Indians as a team, where they were fourth behind Korea and Chinese Taipei (205) and Japan [Images] (208).

India were 210, for the three best scores of the day.

In the women's section, Meghna Bal was lying tied seventh with two-under 71. The women's competition is being played to a par of 73 and on the 5751-yard layout with forward tees.

Vaishavi Sinha (74) was tied 15th and Sharmila Nicollet (77) tied 18th.

With the two best scores counting for the women, India were lying sixth with a total of 145. Japan led the field with 135 and Korea was second at 136.

Japan's Mika Miyazoto and Korea's Ryu So Yeon were joint-leaders at seven-under 66. Taipei's Ya Ni Tseng was third with a 67.

Meghna Bal, on her first round of two-under-par 71, said, "I played really well on the front nine, and I was four under (par) until the 10th hole, and then I lost my concentration. I was happy with my play on the front nine, but not on the back."

Chiragh Kumar finished 10th at the Indian Open earlier this season. But here he was not happy with his first round.

"I'm not totally happy. I was golfing not too badly to start off with. I got a bogey on the eighth hole, which broke my momentum, and I was disappointed because I missed a birdie on the 17th hole."

Lahiri, who shot a three-under par 69, felt, "It was a mixed bag. I didn't have a great game, but it was a truly challenging game. All in all, it was a good game for me.

Luckily, I didn't have too many problems on the course. The only problem was when I got the bogey (on hole seven) and I had a little trouble with my putting."

Gaganjeet Bhullar (70) said, "I was hitting the ball well today, but I still missed a lot of shots. My driving was good, but I had a few missed putts. I'm very disappointed. I should have saved a lot more shots. I made a lot of silly mistakes."

Men's leader Pan birdied three holes in a row on the front nine, and followed with five on the shorter back nine. He finished strongly with birdies on holes 16, 17 and 18 to pull two shots ahead of four players tied in second place.