Mumbai, Oct 23 PGTI president Kapil Dev on Friday said individual triumphs such as Pranavi Urs’ gold medal in the recent Asian Games would give golf a much needed push in the country.
Pranavi became the first Indian female golfer to win the individual gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games earlier this month.
“We think golf is played by the elite, but not anymore. Every young boy (now) wants to play golf, and that is what we are trying to do. Our job as administrators is to bring in more tournaments,” Kapil, India’s cricket World Cup winning captain said at the launch of the Shri Shashi Ruia Memorial Golf Championship here.
“Let’s hope that one day, we will produce a Sachin Tendulkar, or a Virat Kohli, or a Sunil Gavaskar, out of these (golf) players…
“We are just hoping for one big kick, and (if) they win the world championship or something. Look at our girls; not even 300 girls play in India. We won the Asian gold medal. What else do we want? I think these type of feats are going to make this game much bigger than we can ever imagine,” Kapil added.
The Shri Shashi Ruia Memorial Golf Championship will be held here at the Willingdon Sports Club from January 12-15 next year.
PGTI said the championship will be held in a five-year partnership with the Essar Foundation and organised annually till 2031.
“The tournament will feature a prize purse of Rs 2 crore, with the Pro-Am event scheduled for January 10, 2027,” the organisers said.
Kapil, meanwhile, remarked that there is more interest among young players to take up batting and not bowling.
“What can one do if everyone wants to become a batsman? In cricket, they say a batsman is an officer and the bowler is a worker,” he said.
Kapil said the mentality in Indian cricket has changed when it comes to winning global tournaments when asked if India’s bowling needs to be strengthened.
“It is not up to me; the players and selectors have to feel so. Cricket has done fairly well — that’s more important — but from your question, only one thing I can say is that today we think that we will win the World Cup.
“Earlier, we did not use to think so, and this is the change in Indian cricket and Indian sports,” he added.
(PTI News)
