Abhishek Jha -- at one-over 73 -- was the best of the lot as the team started its campaign at the Asia-Pacific amateur team championships in South Korea. Rashid (76) and debutant Pawan (79) were the other two whose scores were counted to make the team total of twelve-over 228 as Karan Vasudeva went nine-over. That's 16 huge shots off first-round leaders Koreans, but as we said, we still think the tied sixth spot can go northwards as they try to repeat 1973.
Back then, the Indian team had staged a proper heist on favourites Japan, winning by three shots to get the country a first ever international team title in golf. The quartet of steady seniors RK Pitamber and PG Sethi and youngsters Vikramjit Singh and Lakshman Singh made themselves a chapter of Indian history by winning the biennial tournament.
We spoke to Lakshman Singh, who, in 1982, also went on to win the individual and team gold at the Asian Games. He still plays Senior events around the world along with Vikramjit Singh, though the two 'elder statesmen' of the team have passed.
We spoke to Lakshman Singh, who, in 1982, also went on to win the individual and team gold at the Asian Games. He still plays Senior events around the world along with Vikramjit Singh, though the two 'elder statesmen' of the team have passed.
"We were playing against some really strong teams in Jakarta," he says. "Japan, with Ginjiro Nakabe, Tsutomu Irie, Michio Mori and Tetsuo Sakata, were one of the strongest teams, as those players were supposed to be the world's best amateurs at the time. The Taiwanese team also had Mister Lu, who was quite young at that time, but still undoubtedly talented, as he showed later.
Lakshman Singh says it was a great team effort from each of them, guided perfectly by Pitamber, who was also the captain of the team. "He kept us all really calm throughout, and it felt just wonderful to win, specially for me since it was my first ever international tournament."
We do hope that one day many years down the line, Pawan is telling our grandkids something similar about his first international outing!
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