Xtra Time Web Desk: Leading Indian professional golfer Udayan Mane has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. The 30-year-old Mane thus joined good friend Anirban Lahiri as the second Indian in the 60-player field in the men’s golf event at Tokyo 2020.
The big-built Udayan, currently the second-highest ranked Indian in the world at 356, made the cut for his maiden Olympics after Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo announced his withdrawal from the quadrennial event on Thursday, June 24. As a result, Mane qualified for Tokyo on the basis of being first reserve against Grillo’s name. The official announcement of Udayan’s qualification for the Olympics was made this evening (July 6, 2021) on the International Golf Federation’s (IGF) website with Mane being placed No. 60 on the Olympic Golf Rankings list (Anirban Lahiri moved up to No. 59).
Speaking to the PGTI, an excited Udayan Mane said, “I’m really excited about getting the opportunity to represent India at the Olympics. In fact, I’m still pinching myself as it hasn’t yet sunk in fully. With a great 2020-21 season on the PGTI, I felt that I had almost sealed my qualification for the Olympics but the lockdown in India this year put some doubts in my mind whether I could actually make the cut for Tokyo. The only tours which have recently been operational are the PGA Tour and European Tour and I thought the players from those tours had a real chance of pushing through and qualifying for the Olympics.”
The men’s golf event in Tokyo will feature 60 players and will be played at the Kasumigaseki Country Club from July 29 – August 1.