Five Indian amateurs ready for Asia-Pacific amateurs in Dubai

The next generation of Indian golf talent will tee off on one of the biggest stages of amateur golf this week, as five young Indians take their place in the 16th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at the Emirates Golf Club’s iconic Majlis Course.

Leading the charge is Rakshit Dahiya, the only member of the group with prior experience at this elite event. Ranked 313th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Dahiya carries both form and familiarity into the championship. For the others — Anshul Mishra, Ranveer Mitroo, Raghav Gulati, and Harman Sachdeva — the occasion marks another important step in their growing international journeys.

Though this will be a debut AAC appearance for most, the Indian contingent arrives with plenty of exposure and confidence earned across world-class amateur circuits. Mishra, the reigning All India Amateur champion, has already shown his comfort with desert conditions — earlier this year, he finished fifth at the Junior Dubai Desert Classic, played on the same Majlis Course and supported by Shubhankar Sharma.

Gulati, meanwhile, will have the benefit of local knowledge. Having grown up in Dubai, the University of Southern California golfer knows the Majlis layout well and has enjoyed success around the region. His recent record includes victory in the Tommy Fleetwood International Pathway Series presented by DP World, along with two other titles in the UAE.

Harman Sachdeva, one of India’s brightest young prospects, has made steady progress on the Asian circuit. He finished runner-up at the Mandiri Ciputra Golfpreneur Junior World Championship in Indonesia and went one better in 2024, winning a World Amateur Golf Ranking event in the same country.

The championship itself is among the most prestigious in world amateur golf. Created in 2009 through a joint initiative by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), the Masters Tournament, and The R&A, it has grown into a global showcase of emerging talent. The winner earns an invitation to the 2026 Masters Tournament at Augusta National and exemptions into The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale and The 131st Amateur Championship at Royal Liverpool, while the runners-up enter The Open Qualifying Series.

This year’s field brings together 120 players from 41 nations, each chasing the same dream once pursued by now-famous names like Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Smith, Min Woo Lee, and C.T. Pan — all of whom once stood where these five young Indians will stand this week. Matsuyama remains the only two-time winner of the championship and later became the 2021 Masters champion, symbolizing the event’s power to launch global careers.

India has yet to claim the Asia-Pacific crown, though Rayhan Thomas, who grew up in Dubai and now competes on the Korn Ferry Tour in the United States, came agonizingly close with a runner-up finish in 2018 at Sentosa, Singapore. His success continues to inspire a new generation that includes Dahiya, Mishra, Mitroo, Gulati, and Sachdeva — all looking to script another chapter in India’s growing presence in Asian golf.

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