Golfer Udayan Mane joins Anirban Lahiri, Aditi Ashok at Tokyo 2020
Udayan Mane and Anirban Lahiri will be India’s two golfers in the men’s event at Tokyo while Aditi Ashok will be the only representative in the women’s event.
The International Golf Federation (IGF), on Tuesday, confirmed Indian golfer Udayan Mane’s participation at the Tokyo Olympics.
Udayan Mane will join Rio Olympian Anirban Lahiri as one of India’s two representatives in the men’s golf event at Tokyo while Aditi Ashok will compete in the women’s event.
The men’s golf event at the Tokyo Games will be held from July 29 to August 1 while the women’s event will be played from August 4 to 7.
After missing out on a spot in the top 60 of the ‘Olympic Golf Rankings’, the 30-year-old Udayan Mane was named as the first replacement to Emiliano Grillo of Argentina in the Reallocation Reserve List.
With Grillo announcing his withdrawal from the Olympics last week, Mane was included in his place. Tokyo will be Udayan Mane’s maiden Olympic Games.
The inclusion comes as a welcome relief for the Bengaluru golfer who was within the top 60 on the Olympic Golf Rankings list before the Games were deferred by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though international golf resumed late last year, the lack of competitions on the Asian and the Indian circuits saw Mane slip out of the cut-off zone.
“After being a certainty at one point last year, the rankings have been coming down and I couldn’t do much because I had no events to play. It was almost depressing but I stuck to practice and workouts,” Mane had told PTI.
In the latest Reallocation Reserve List, Gaganjeet Bhullar has been named as the second replacement to both Mane and Lahiri while S Chikkarangappa is the fifth replacement to the two Indians.
In the women’s category, Diksha Dagar has been included in the reserves list for Tokyo 2020.