Seven young Indian golfers qualify for Asian Games

Team Udayavani, May 2, 2018, 12:13 PM IST

New Delhi: Seven young golfers, including Diksha Dagar and Aadil Bedi, have qualified to represent India at the 18th Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Indonesia in August.

Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Harimohan Singh, Rayhan Thomas also made the cut for the multisport event in the men’s team, while Ridhima Dilawari and Sifat Sagoo were selected in the women’s team, apart from Diksha.

Kshitij scored six-under at the selection trials held at the JP Greens and Classics golf course, while Aadil shot four-under and Harimohan Singh had a score of three-under.

A total of six rounds were held and the best five were considered as the qualifying score at the trails, which happened from April 22 to 30 at the National capital region.

Among the girls, Ridhima and Sifat shot eight-under and seven-under to finish at the first and second position, while Diksha, who had won a silver medal for India at the Deaflympics last year, scored five-under to book her ticket to the quadrennial event, where the golf event is scheduled to be held from August 21 to 25.

Aadil, who will also play in the World Cup, known as Eisenhower Cup in Ireland, in August, said it is a previledge to qualify for Asian Games.

“It is a great previledge to play at Asian games and I am looking to return with gold medal. There are countries such as Taiwan, Korea, Japan and China, who will pose a tough competition but I am confident,” Aadil, who is number one in National Mens merit list, told PTI.

“I plan to go there twice in May and June prior to the event to know about the conditions,” added the 17-year-old Chandigarh golfer, who started playing golf at the age of six.