By Rahul Banerji
Diksha Dagar capped her dominant run in the 2021 Deaflympics in Brazil with the gold medal at Golf Club Caxias do Sol late on Wednesday.
In the final, Diksha outplayed Ashlyn Grace Johnson of the United States 5&4, an unbeatable lead of five holes with four left to play. Margaux Brejo of France took the bronze.
The Frenchwoman ended Norwegian Andrea Hovtsein Hellegjerde’s attempt for a second medal on the third playoff hole. Andrea was the bronze medallist in 2017.
The final helped square a few accounts.
At the 2017 edition in Turkey, Diksha had lost to another American in the gold medal round, Yost Kaylin, the match decided by playoff after the two had finished the regulation 18 holes with scores tied.
Wednesday’s result also makes Diksha the first Deaflympics multi medallist, the 2021 gold adding to her silver medal from 2017.
In between, she also competed at the Tokyo Olympics, making her something of a unique achiever on the golf circuit.
Unique record
In Turkey, Diksha played as an amateur, Since then, the 21-year-old has turned professional and won twice – one individual event and the other team – on the Ladies European Tour.
The experience the left-hander has gained over the years showed in Caxias as she decimated all opposition in the ladies event.
Diksha won the qualifying round by a massive 14 strokes and routed her three opponents by healthy margins in the elimination phase that included the final.
Johnson incidentally was the one finishing second in the stroke-play qualifiers with cards of 76 and 77 to Diksha’s scores of 67 and 72.
On Tuesday, Diksha outplayed Hovtsein Hellegjerde in the semi-finals.
Since turning professional, Diksha has won the South African Women’s Open in 2019 and the Aramco Team Series London event last year.
Wednesday was a good day overall for the Indian contingent as well, with the badminton squad pulling in two gold and one bronze medal for an overall tally of 11 medals for seventh place in the standings.
Also read: Diksha Dagar goes for gold at Brazil Deaflympics after silver in Turkey
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