On November 19, Indian golfer Diksha Dagar won by a big margin of 11-under in the final round and a three-day total of 205 settling for a podium finish at the top with the gold medal. With the win, Dagar has successfully defended her gold medal at the event held in Tokyo. Previously, at the 2021 Deaflympics, she won gold.
Participating in women’s individual stroke play, the Indian golfer produced rounds of 68, 65, 72 at the par-72 Wakasu Golf Links to win by a massive margin of 14-stroke. Joining Dagar in the podium was Frances’s Margaux Rezo who finished in the second spot with an overall total of three-over 219. In third place it was Canada’s Erica Dawn Rivard with a five-over 221.
On the opening day, the 24-year-old hit a four-under 68, which was the only sub-par score in a field among the 21 players in attendance.
Meanwhile, in the men’s category, Harsh Singh finished in 12th in the individual category with a three-day score of 22-over 238. On the other hand, Vibhu Tyagi ended at tied 14th with an overall score of 24-over 240.
During the 2017 Deaflympics, Dagar won a silver, and then represented India at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. In 2019, at the age of 18, she became the second Indian woman golfer to win on the Ladies European Tour, joining after Aditi Ashok.
Diksha received an invitation from the International Golf Federation (IGF) to compete at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. In that event, she performed brilliantly with 26-under over 54 holes.
Diksha is the only hearing-impaired golfer from worldwide to represent India in Deaflympics and Olympic Games. She also represented India at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Diksha on her win
“I am very happy to have won back-to-back gold medals at the Deaflympics. The competition is getting tougher every year. I had to compete against girls from 20 different countries. I stuck to my plan – attacking the flags on par-5s and focusing on my short game and approach shots,” she said.
She added, “I would like to thank the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Indian Golf Union for supporting me throughout this journey. I would also like to thank my sponsors and Ladies European Tour (LET) and Women’s Golf Association of India for providing me the exposure to deal with stiff competition.”
(Inputs sourced from NDTV India, Olympics)
