Udayan Mane set to secure a berth in Tokyo Olympics

The talented golfer Udayan Mane is about to qualify for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics as Emiliano Grillo of Argentine gives a hint of his withdrawal from the games.

The top-60 golfers, as per rankings, will compete in Tokyo, and the vacant berth will now be clutched by Mane, who was a reserve player behind Grillo.

Emiliano Grillo, the only Argentine on the Olympics list, posted an update on his Instagram about his withdrawal, which bulbs up Mane's hope to qualify, as he is the best-placed reserved player at 354th position.

Mane, who was in spectacular form in 2020 and grabbed back-to-back titles on PGTI, was the leading Indian at that point and seemed set to secure a berth to Tokyo alongside Rashid Khan, but then came the pandemic, and the Olympic Games got postponed.

First, on the Asian and then on Indian Tour, the events halted because of the deadly COVID-19, which dented Mane’s hope to qualify for the Tokyo games. The Asian Tour has had no events since March 2020, and PGTI had a few events in the last quarter of 2020, and then in 2021, the 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.”

If Udayan qualifies then we have three golfers to represent India in Tokyo Olympics. Anirban and Udayan in Men’s field, while Aditi Ashok in the women’s section.

There's also a chance that even Tvesa Malik may make the cut, but she'll have to win this week's LET event to do so. Another option for her to qualify is to wait for withdrawals among qualified players in order to get into the final quota.