Udayan Mane’s wait for that coveted Olympic berth should soon be over, as the 30-year-old Bengalurean is all set to get into the Top-60 with the withdrawal of Argentine Emiliano Grillo.

Mane was the leading Indian at one point and seemed set to clinch a berth to Tokyo alongside Rashid Khan. And then came the pandemic and the Olympic Games were postponed. Mane’s playing opportunities on Asian Tour and then the Indian Tour became fewer by the week. The Asian Tour has had no events since March, 2020 and the Indian Tour had a few events in last couple of months in 2020 and then in 2021 their last event was in March, 2021.

“I am thrilled but am still waiting for the official communication. I hope it comes soon,” said Mane. “After being a certainty at one point last year, the rankings have been coming down and I couldn’t much because I had no events to play. It was almost depressing but I stuck to practice and workouts.”

Grillo, World No. 74 was the long Argentine in the. Olympic list. The next best Argentine is Fabian Gomez at 404 and Mane is 354th.

Anirban Lahiri is already in and now Mane joins him in the men’s field. That means India will have two men and at least one woman like 2016. Tvesa Malik has an outside chance of making it as a second entry in women’s section, the deadline for which is next week. She needs to win or finish in Top-3 and may also need some withdrawals.

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