37th National Games: Having missed gold medal last year, Punjab golfer wins two this time

Drall emerged not only as a champion in the event but also claimed the women’s team gold medal pairing up with Mannat Brar.

Amandeep Drall with individual and team gold medals in the 37th National Games. (Express photo)

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Playing at the Delhi Golf Course this week in the 37th National Games posed a different kind of challenge for Punjab golfer Amandeep Drall. The 30-year-old, who is from Punjab but currently residing in Panchkula, had also to fight the smoggy conditions in the national capital during the final round of the women’s individual golf event in the national games.

Drall emerged not only as a champion in the event but also claimed the women’s team gold medal pairing up with Mannat Brar.

“While playing at Delhi Golf Course has always been tricky, the smoggy conditions made it difficult at this point of the year. The golf course is a bit narrow here at Delhi and one has to be accurate with the drive and the shots. A few holes here were playing a bit long and the greens were playing a bit trickier. So the main challenge was to adapt to such conditions apart from smog. I missed winning the gold medal in the last National Games but I am glad that this time I could win the gold medal,” said Drall while speaking with The Indian Express.

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Drall, who started playing golf at the insistence of her father Col Pargat Singh at the Chandimandir Cantonment Shivalik Golf Course in 2007, had turned professional in 2015. The 30-year-old golfer has won a total of fifteen titles on the WGAI Pro Golf Tour so far in her career, and finished second in the Indian Open on the Ladies European Tour last year. The win meant that the Punjab golfer pocketed a prize money of more than $30,000.

Drall also had a seventh place on the Ladies European Tour last year with a seventh-place finish in the Swis Ladies Open. “Playing on the Ladies European tour always poses a different challenge and to compete at different venues along with different conditions always acts as a confidence-booster for a golfer like me. The second-place finish in the Indian Open apart from the seventh place finish in Swiss Open gave me the motivation as well the points to secure my card on the tour for this year,” said Drall.

The Punjab golfer’s best finish on the Ladies European Tour has been a 16th place finish in the Indian Open apart from a 24th place finish in the Belgian Ladies Open earlier this year. Drall is confident of securing her playing rights on the Ladies European Tour for the coming year.

“I am not playing in the last tournament on the tour this year. But I am confident that I have got enough points under my belt for the full tour card for next season. The break for the next few months will offer me a chance to take rest as well as work on my game before the season begins,” said Drall.

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In the men’s team event, Chandigarh golfers Aadil Bedi and Anant Ahlawat won the silver medal.

Nitin Sharma

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More

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National Games