Golfer Diksha Pockets 2nd Deaflympics Medal
Caxias do Sul (Brazil), May 12: Indian Golfer Diksha Dagar has clinched her second Deaflympics medal as she outplayed American Ashlyn Grace Johnson to win a gold.
The 21-year-old Indian defeated Johnson, who finished in second place behind Dagar in the stroke play qualifiers, 5 and 4 in the summit clash here on Wednesday.
Diksha cruised past Amelia Gonzalez Podbicanin of Spain 6 and 5 in the quarterfinals and defeated Norwegian Andrea Hovstein 5 and 4 in the semifinal, enroute to the final. In 2017, when golf was introduced at the Deaflympics for the first time, Dagar, who had represented India at Tokyo Olympics last year, had to settle for a silver after she went down in the gold medal round to Yost Kaylin of the US.
Meanwhile, India clinched two golds and a bronze medal in badminton events.
In the women singles, the 18-year-old Jerlin Jayaratchagan continued her dominating run to clinch gold medal after defeating Austria’s Katrin Neudolt 21-17, 21-18 in the final.
Abhinav Sharma edged past Lithuania’s Ignas Reznikas 21-16 21-6 in the bronze medal contest. Earlier, Sharma lost to South Korea’s Myeongsoo Seo in the semifinal and missed the spot in the final.
Then, Sharma and Jayaratchagan teamed up for the mixed doubles and trounced Malaysians Edmund Seng Keong Teo and Wei Ying Boon 21-14 21-7 to wrap up the yellow medal.
India has so far won total of 10 medals including 7 gold and 3 bronze.
