Asian Games: How have India fared in golf on continental event?

Golf was introduced as a sport in the 1982 Asiad held in New Delhi.

The golf competition of the 19th Asian Games is scheduled to be staged from September 28 to October 1 at the West Lake International Golf Course in Hangzhou, China. The Indian quartet of Shubhankar Sharma, Anirban Lahiri, SSP Chawrasia and Khalin Joshi will be representing the country in the men’s strokeplay competition. Meanwhile, Aditi Ashok (fourth-place finish in Tokyo Olympics), Avani Prashanth and Pranavi Urs will be taking part in the women’s event. 

Golf was introduced as a sport at the 1982 Asiad held in New Delhi. From there till now, the Indian team have captured three gold and as many silver medals at the continental multi-discipline extravaganza.

Khel Now takes a look at the country’s performance over the years.

1. 1982 Delhi Games (2 Gold, 1 Silver)

It was organised as a men’s competition at the pristine Delhi Golf Club, with hosts India claiming gold in both the individual and team categories. ‘Bunny’ Lakshman Singh clinched gold and Rajiv Mohta settled for silver in the individual competition. Further, the quartet of Lakshman Singh, Rajiv Mohta, Rishi Narain and Amit Luthra won the team gold. It was a sublime finish for the country, with two gold and one silver at home.

2. 1986 Seoul Games

 Rajiv Mohta, Uttam Singh Mundy, Alan Singh and Anirudh Sharma represented India at the Seoul Asian Games. However, the quartet returned empty-handed.

3. 1990 Beijing Games

 Jeev Milkha Singh, Gaurav Ghei, Amandeep Johl and Vivek Bhandari represented India at the Beijing Asian Games. They, too, returned home without a medal.

4. 1994 Hiroshima Games

 Jyoti Randhawa, Harmeet Kahlon, Amit Luthra and Anitya Chand carried the Indian flag at the Hiroshima Asian Games. However, the quartet returned empty-handed.

5. 1998 Bangkok Games

 Digvijay Singh, Amit Dube, Harmeet Kahlon and Amit Luthra represented India at the Bangkok Asian Games. They, too, returned home without a medal.

6. 2002 Busan Games (1 Gold)

 Delhi lad Shiv Kapur became the second individual gold medalist in golf after Lakshman Singh at the Busan Asian Games. Sri Lankan Anura Rohana took silver and South Korea’s Kim Hyun-woo settled for bronze. It was the 14th edition of the event. However, the Indian team comprising Kapur, Harendra Gupta, Manav Das and Keshav Misra didn’t have a memorable outing and returned empty-handed.

7. 2006 Doha Games (1 Silver)

The quartet of Anirban Lahiri, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Joseph Chakola and Chiragh Kumar produced a fabulous performance to clinch the team silver for India at the Doha Asian Games. Unfortunately, None of the talented amateur golfers could replicate the performance in the individual event and returned without a podium finish.

8. 2010 Guangzhou Games (1 Silver)

 The Indian team comprising Rahul Bajaj, Abhijeet Singh Chaddha, Rashid Khan and Abhinav Lohan finished runners-up to repeat the last edition’s performance in Guangzhou. However, the quartet were unable to reproduce their solid display in the individual competition and came back without a medal.

9. 2014 Incheon Games

 India sent a seven-member squad for the Incheon Asian Games. The No. 1 amateur in the country, then Udayan Mane, Feroze Singh Garewal, Manu Gandas and Samarth Dwivedi were in the men’s competition. Among the girls, it was the trio of Aditi Ashok, Astha Madan and Gurbani Singh representing the country in the quadrennial event.

Mane ended tied seventh to register the best result in the individual category, while Gurbani had the best display among girls with a tied 15th finish. With the men’s team finishing sixth overall, the women’s squad returned after an eighth-place finish. 

10. 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games

The Indian contingent consisting of four men and three women golfers, returned empty-handed once again to extend the medal drought to eight years. The quartet of Harimohan Singh, Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Rayhan Thomas and Aadil Bedi finished seventh in the team competition. On the other hand, the trio of Ridhima Dilawari, Diksha Dagar and Sifat Sagoo ended eighth in the women’s event.

While Thomas and Bedi ended up tied for 13th in the individual event, it was Ridhima who scripted the best finish at tied for 17th.