Indian golfer Diksha Dagar came up with a superb 11-under in the final round to win by a huge margin and defend her gold medal at the Deaflympics here on Thursday. Diksha produced rounds of 68, 65, 72 at the par-72 Wakasu Golf Links to top the podium by a whopping 14-stroke margin in the women’s individual strokeplay competition. Diksha, who had won gold at the 2021 Deaflympics and a silver at the 2017 edition of the Games, posted a three-day total of 11-under 205.
Margaux Rezo of France finished second with an overall total of three-over 219, followed by Canada’s Erica Dawn Rivard at five-over 221. The 24-year-old had fired a four-under 68 on the opening day, the only sub-par score in a field of 21 players.
The Indian, who also represented the country at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, was on the heels of a hot putter as she shot an amazing 11-under in round two to leave the field way behind. In 2019, she became only the second Indian woman golfer after Aditi Ashok to win on the Ladies European Tour at the age of 18.
Diksha, who had received a surprise invitation from the International Golf Federation (IGF) to compete at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, came up with another amazing round of 11-under as she tallied 26-under over 54 holes.
Diksha is the only hearing-impaired player across the globe to have represented the country in both Deaflympics and Olympic Games. She also represented India at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Her compatriots Harsh Singh, with a three-day tally of 22-over 238, finished solo 12th and Vibhu Tyagi ended at tied 14th with an overall score of 24-over 240.
“I am very happy to have won back-to-back gold medals at the Deaflympics. The competition is getting tougher every year. I had to compete against girls from 20 different countries. I stuck to my plan - attacking the flags on par-5s and focusing on my short game and approach shots,” Diksha said.
“I would like to thank the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Indian Golf Union for supporting me throughout this journey. I would also like to thank my sponsors, and Ladies European Tour (LET) and the Women’s Golf Association of India for providing me with the exposure to deal with stiff competition.”
