Mane to join Lahiri in Olympic field after Argentine player’s withdrawal

Indian golfer Udayan Mane is all set to make the cut for the Tokyo Games as the withdrawal of Argentine Emiliano Grillo will push him inside the playing field.

The top-60 golfers as per rankings and the qualification criteria will compete in Tokyo and the vacant spot will now be grabbed by Mane, who was reserve player behind Grillo.

Grillo, world number 74 was the lone Argentine in the Olympic list. The next best Argentine is Fabian Gomez at 404 and Mane is 354th.

Mane was the leading Indian at one point and seemed set to clinch a berth to Tokyo alongside Rashid Khan but the pandemic delayed the Olympic Games.

Mane’s playing opportunities on Asian Tour and then the Indian Tour became fewer by the week.

The Asian Tour has had no events since March, 2020 and the Indian Tour had a few events in last couple of months in 2020 and then in 2021 their last event was in March, 2021.

“I am thrilled but am still waiting for the official communication. I hope it comes soon,” said Mane.

“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.” Anirban Lahiri is already in and now Mane joins him in the men’s field. That means India will have two men and at least one woman like in 2016.

Tvesa Malik has an outside chance of making it as a second entry in women’s section, the deadline for which is next week.

She needs to win or finish in Top-3 this week and may also need some withdrawals.