Manila, May 12 (IANS) India's Himmat Rai put behind the disappointment of not notching up a win on the Asian Development Tour last week by taking the first round lead at the$300,000 Asian Tour ICTSI Philippine Open with a round of 68 Thursday.

Rai was sharing the top spot with Thanyakon Khrongpha of Thailand with 12 more players yet to finish the first round as weather forced an early end of play.

Among other Indians, Digvijay Singh (70) was tied ninth and another good round came in from Sujjan Singh (71). One of the players yet to finish his round was Amardip Sing Malik at one-under through 15 hole. Manav Jaini (72) was tied 30th while Chiragh Kumar (75) and Vikrant Chopra (76) were way behind. Mandeo Pathania was even par through 15.

Rai, who started from tenth hole had the first stretch in 32 which included a 25 foot birdie putt on the 14th hole. "You need to keep the ball in play and that's what I did. If you find the fairways, you have a very strong chance of scoring because the greens are excellent," said the 23-year-old, who also had one birdie and one bogey in his second nine.

"There were a lot positive things that came out from last week (Impian Classic). I am beginning to feel competitive again and I learned a lot from that experience," said Rai.

The Asian Tour players will wear black ribbons during the tournament as a mark of respect to Spanish legend Seve Ballesteros, who passed away last week.