Asian Games 2023: Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri tempted back for another shot at gold – even if he dreads journey to China
- Lahiri persuaded to return to the Games 17 years after winning a silver, as the event allows professionals for the first time
- He is ‘not super-excited about the travel’ to Hangzhou from the United States, with fewer flight options since the pandemic
Anirban Lahiri still remembers his Asian Games debut in 2006 as if it were yesterday, but he had to think twice about coming back to represent India in the golf tournament in Hangzhou later this year.
September’s multi-sport event in mainland China will be the first time professionals have competed in the golf, men or women.
And as well as considering the rights or wrongs of denying an amateur player a spot, there were also the practicalities to think through, such as exactly how he gets to Zhejiang province from Chicago, where he will have just finished playing in the 12th LIV Golf event of the year.
Ultimately, though, it was the chance to represent his country again, and maybe go one better than the silver he claimed in Doha almost 20 years ago, that swayed Lahiri.
“Any opportunity you get to don the tricolour [Indian flag], it’s a special thing, you know,” Lahiri said. “You always aspire and dream to hear the national anthem when, ideally, you win a gold, whether it’s the Olympics or any other format.”
The medal Lahiri won in Qatar came in the team event, and he thought he had closed the door on that part of his life when he turned professional the following year.