Diksha Dagar (born 14 December 2000) is an Indian professional golfer who is also hearing-impaired. She became the leading amateur ladies golfer in India from November 2015. Diksha Dagar represented India at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics where golf was included in the

Summer Deaflympics The Deaflympics also known as Deaflympiad (previously called World Games for the Deaf, and International Games for the Deaf) are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which Deaf athlet ...

for the very first time and competed in the women's individual golf event securing a silver medal. Diksha also qualified to represent

India at the 2018 Asian Games India competed at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia, from 18 August to 2 September. Neeraj Chopra was the flag bearer for the opening ceremony while Rani Rampal was named as the flag bearer for the closing ceremony. India b ...

. She is also considered one of the emerging amateur golfers in India. In 2019, she became only the second Indian female golfer after

Aditi Ashok Aditi Ashok (born 29 March 1998) is an Indian professional golfer from Bangalore. She plays on the Ladies European Tour and LPGA Tour. She made her Olympic Games debut at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics i ...

to win the

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal stru ...

and became the youngest Indian woman to do so at the age of 18. In July 2021, she received a surprise invitation from the International Golf Federation to compete in the women's individual event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

following a late withdrawal of South African golfer Paula Reto. She eventually became the first golfer ever in history to have competed in both Olympics and Deaflympics.

Early life

Diksha was born on 14 December 2000 and started to wear hearing aids at the age of six. She started playing golf since the age of seven, along with her brother Yogesh Dagar, who is also profoundly hearing-impaired. She was coached by her father Col Narinder Dagar, a former scratch golfer who serves in the Army. She considers Serbian tennis player

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...

and American golfer

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

as her inspirational role models.

Amateur career

She started playing golf as a left-hander in the amateur level in 2012 and noted for her clean long striking during her early career. In November 2015, she was the low amateur at the Hero Women's Indian Open on the

. She has won several amateur golf professional tournaments since entering into amateur circuit in 2012. In 2016, she became the only Indian golfer to be ranked within top 500 in the world rankings for U18 category. In 2017, she won her maiden professional event at the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour. In March 2018, she won the Singapore Ladies Amateur Open. Diksha Dagar also registered the best score by an Indian at the Thailand's

Queen Sirikit Cup The Queen Sirikit Cup, officially the Asia-Pacific Amateur Ladies Golf Team Championship, is an annual amateur team golf championship for women organised by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation. The inaugural event was held in 1979. The event is nam ...

history when she achieved it in June 2018 with a score of three under 69 and helped the Indian team to finish sixth in the women's team event. She also totalled four-under over the three days, the lowest any Indian had gone in the Queen Sirikit Cup history. Diksha was one of the medal winners as a part of the Indian delegation at the

2017 Summer Deaflympics ) , nations = 86 , athletes = 2,873 , events = 219 in 18 sports , stadium = Samsun 19 Mayıs Stadium , opened_by = Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , torch_lighter = Ertuğrul Bursa , opening = July 18, 2017 , closing ...

, where she clinched a silver medal in the women's individual golf event and also became the first Indian to claim a Deaflympic medal in the sport of golf. In April 2018, she was approved to take part in the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

along with six other golfers who were named in the Indian squad and competed in both women's

individual An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own Maslow ...

and team event as a part of the golf competition.

Professional career

Dagar turned professional in early 2019. In March 2019, she emerged as winner of the 2019

Investec South African Women's Open The South African Women's Open is a golf tournament. It was first played in 1988, is sanctioned by the Women's PGA of South Africa and is played as part of the Sunshine Ladies Tour. The tournament has been co-sanctioned by the Ladies European To ...

, a tournament on the

2019 Ladies European Tour The 2019 Ladies European Tour was a series of golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world, played from 10 January to 8 December 2019. The tournaments were sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET). Schedule The table below ...

. This was her first win as a professional, becoming India's youngest woman to clinch a Ladies European Tour title at the age of 18. She defeated South Africa's three-time champion,

Lee-Anne Pace Lee-Anne Pace (born 15 February 1981) is a South African professional golfer. Career Pace was born in Paarl, Western Cape. She had a successful amateur collegiate career in the United States, where she attended Murray State University and the U ...

, by one shot. She became the first Indian to clinch the South African Women's Open title and second Indian female overall to claim the Ladies European Tour Title. In November 2020, she competed at the 2020 Dubai Omega Moonlight Classic tournament. During the 2020 Ladies Scottish Open, she along with two fellow Indian golfers Aditi Ashok and Tvesa Malik became the first trio of golfers from India to take part in a single event at the Ladies European Tour. Diksha won the Aramco Team Series – London as part of the

2021 Ladies European Tour The 2021 Ladies European Tour was a series of golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world. The tournaments were sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET). The season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with many tournam ...

and became only the second Indian female golfer after Aditi Ashok to win Ladies European Tour more than once. She represented

India at the 2020 Summer Olympics India competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. India has appeared in every edition ...

which also marked her maiden appearance at the Olympics. Prior to earning an invitation to take part in the Olympics, she was supposed to participate at the ISPS Handa World Invitational Tournament in the Northern Ireland which started on 29 July 2021. She became one of the fewest deaf people to have competed at the Olympics and she was also the first Indian deaf sportsperson to have represented India at the Olympics. She qualified to compete at the 2021 Summer Deaflympics (held in May 2022) representing India which also marked her second Deaflympic appearance. She claimed the gold medal in the women's individual event during the

2021 Summer Deaflympics ) , nations participating = 72 , athletes participating = 2466 , Events = 219 in 18 sports , stadium = Festa da Uva Main Paviliion , officially opened by = First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro , torch lighter = , opening ...

after defeating USA's Ashlyn Grace in the final. She also went onto become the first and only golfer in Deaflympics history to secure two Deaflympic medals in golf since the introduction of sport to Deaflympics in 2017.

Honours

She was conferred the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

for the year 2023. Earlier in 2020, the

Indian Golf Union The Indian Golf Union (IGU) is the National Sports Federation and the Governing body of the sport of Golf in India. History The Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC), founded in 1829, initially managed all matters related to golf in India. The RCGC in ...

nominated her as a candidate for the Arjuna Award.

Amateur wins

*2015 Eastern India Ladies & Junior Girls - Faldo Series India *2016 Chandigarh Ladies & Junior Girls Championship, Faldo Series India Championship, Western India Ladies & Girls Championship, Eastern India Ladies & Junior Girls *2017 Telangana Ladies & Junior Girls Championship, Northern India Ladies & Girls, Western India Ladies & Girls Championship *2018 Singapore Ladies Amateur Open Championship Source:

Professional wins (3)

Ladies European Tour wins (2)

Co-sanctioned by the

Sunshine Ladies Tour The Sunshine Ladies Tour is a professional golf tour for women based in South Africa. Schedule Since the inaugural 2014 season, tournaments have averaged around ten per season and been concentrated in the January–March window. Sponsors have i ...

Other wins (1)

*2017 Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour Leg 16 Source:

Team appearances

Espirito Santo Trophy The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation. The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fren ...

(representing India):

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Source:

References

External links

* * * *
Diksha Dagar
at

Deaflympics The Deaflympics also known as Deaflympiad (previously called World Games for the Deaf, and International Games for the Deaf) are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which Deaf athlet ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dagar, Diksha Indian female golfers Ladies European Tour golfers Olympic golfers for India Deaflympic golfers for India Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Golfers at the 2018 Asian Games Golfers at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics Golfers at the 2021 Summer Deaflympics Deaflympic gold medalists for India Deaflympic silver medalists for India Medalists at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics Medalists at the 2021 Summer Deaflympics Asian Games competitors for India Deaf golfers Golfers from Haryana Recipients of the Arjuna Award Indian deaf people Sportswomen from Haryana People from Jhajjar 2000 births Living people 21st-century Indian women