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YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS

2022

May 13, 2022: The Times of India

Caxias (Brazil): Indian golfer Diksha Dagar outplayed American Ashlyn Grace in the final to bag gold medal at the Deaflympics, fulfilling her promise of improving upon the silver-winning performance at the 2017 edition. Diksha is now the only golfer with two Deaflympics medals a silver in Samsun, Turkey in 2017 and gold in 2022, which is actually the 2021 edition of Deaflympics.

The 21-year-old left-hander, who is a professional with victories on the Ladies European Tour, completed a dominant performance with a 5 and 4 win in the final of the match play section. She beat Grace Johnson with four holes to spare In 2017, when golf was first introduced at the Deaflympics,

Diksha, then still an amateur and still short of her 17th birthday, reached the final comfortably. There she lost in a play-off to American Yost Kaylin, who at that time was also playing in the Symetra Tour and some events on the LPGA Tour.

PTI

2023

Tipsport Czech Ladies Open

June 26, 2023: The Times of India

NEW DELHI: The talented India golfer Diksha Dagar on Sunday clinched the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open, registering a commanding four-shot win at Czechia in Czech Republic. It was her second Ladies European Tour (LET) event title, and her first since 2019.

The 22-year-old southpaw Diksha won her first LET title back in 2019 in her rookie year and in 2021 she was part of the winning team at the Aramco Team Series in London.

Diksha is in terrific form this season, registering four Top-10 finishes. This was her 79th start on the LET and she now has two individual wins and nine Top-10 finishes.

Starting the day with a five-shot lead, Diksha, who hails from Jhajjar in Haryana, duly delivered the win with no hiccups. Diksha's final round 69 included four birdies and just one bogey in a week. She dropped shots only once each on the first and last days with a bogey-free 65 in between on the second day.

Thailand's Trichat Cheenglab made a valiant charge on the final day with a 64, but her first two rounds of 73-70 meant she started the final day nine shots behind Diksha and that was too much to overcome for the Thai.

The 22-year-old Indian was steady throughout Sunday just as she had been all week. Trichat finished with a total of 9-under and was sole second while Frenchwoman Celine Herbin (69-72-67) was third at 8-under.

After a series of Top-10 finishes, three of them in the last four starts, Diksha finally forced the door open with a stunning performance that was highlighted by a second round of 7-under 65.

She compiled rounds of 69-65-69 with 13 birdies, an eagle and just two bogeys in 54 holes over three rounds.

She played superbly despite windy conditions early in the week at the Royal Beroun Golf Club, where she had finished Tied-fourth in 2021.

Diksha was the second Indian to win on the LET Tour after Aditi Ashok won the Hero Women's Indian Open in 2016 to become the first Indian to triumph on the Tour.

Diksha now becomes the second Indian to win in 2023 as Aditi won the Magical Kenya Ladies earlier this season. The duo are the only Indians to have tasted success on LET.

She won her first LET title in 2019 at the Investec Women's South African Open in March 2019 and now after four years, three months and 11 days she recorded her second individual success. Starting the final day with a string of six pars, she birdied the seventh and ninth to turn in 2-under and moved to 12-under. This season Diksha was tied sixth in Belgian Ladies, tied 8th at Helsingborg Ladies Open and tied 3rd at Amundi German Masters last week.

Playing on a sponsor's exemption this week, Pranavi lost her momentum on the back nine and dropped three shots on 11th, 12th and 18th and finished with 3-under 69 for her best finish on LET at Tied-17th.

She shot 75-68-69 to total 4-under and finish Tied-17th, her best result on the LET.

The other Indian, who made the cut was Ridhima Dilawari, who finished with a round of 71 to be Tied-51st.

About the course and the event, Diksha had said,"Two years ago, I finished in the top five during the Olympic qualification period. My target was to finish in the top five. I have played here multiple times and I know this course very well." "I'm feeling confident. My main focus is to play good golf and at the moment I'm enjoying it.”

Diksha, who was born with a hearing impairment and has been wearing hearing aids since the age of six, has overcome the hurdles amazingly well with the support from her family. Her father Col Narinder Dagar is also her mentor, coach and caddie.

Diksha has also twice been a medallist at the Deaflympics (Olympics for the Deaf), including a gold medal in 2021 after taking a silver in 2017. In 2021 she also participated at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first-ever golfer to compete at both Deaflympics and the main Olympic Games. She also participated in the 2018 Asian Games.

Ranked 22nd on the Race to Costa Del Sol on the Ladies European Tour, Diksha is expected to force her way into Top-10 and improve dramatically in her world rankings from the current 297 and come to around 225.

Four players Lily May Humphreys (68), Laura Beveridge (63), Gabriela Cowley (70) and Cara Gainer (70) were tied fourth at 7-under.

(With inputs from PTI)