Indian golfer Udayan Mane has qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, thus making him the third entrant in the discipline so far, after Anirban Lahiri and Aditi Ashok made the cut earlier on. The Indian secured berth after Argentine golfer Emiliano Grilo withdrew his name from the Games.
Indian golfer Udayan Mane is the latest addition to the Indian contingent for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after he made the cut following the withdrawal of Argentine Emiliano Grilo. Each country can send a total of two golfers each in the men’s and women’s section. The top 15 ranked golfers in the world will automatically qualify for the main event, with a maximum of two entries per event per country
However, beyond that, the spots will be filled up based on the final Olympic Golf ranking, provided the countries already do not have two golfers on the list. Anirban Lahiri, being the top-ranked golfer from India qualified for the Olympics as the 60th entrant. Meanwhile, Udayan was a reserve player behind Grillo – the 74th ranked player in the world.
The developments made him only the third golfer after Anirban Lahiri and Aditi Ashok to qualify for the Games. Even though Udayan was on track to qualify in the last year itself, the lack of events made meant his rankings dropped drastically and he feel out of the qualification zone.
“I am thrilled but am still waiting for the official communication. I hope it comes soon. After being a certainty at one point last year, the rankings have been coming down and I couldn’t much because I had no events to play. It was almost depressing but I stuck to practice and workouts,” said Udayan Mane.