Massive leap for Siddikur

Siddikur Rahman might have missed out on a maiden European Tour victory on Sunday, but his second-place finish in the tri-sanctioned Mauritius Open has earned him reward in the form of a massive jump in the world golf rankings as well as a return to Olympic Games' qualifying list. The 31-year-old golfer, who was in 406th position last week, climbed 132 places to move up to 274th position, according to the latest rankings published yesterday.

The rise in rankings was also reflected in the Olympics' eligibility list, released later yesterday, as Siddikur moved back into 54th position after being out of the 60-man list in the last three weeks.

This massive jump in ranking owes to the status of the Mauritius Open as a tri-sanctioned event, and the hefty paycheque of 126,565 dollars which Siddikur earned from it. The Mauritius exploits also lifted the 31-year-old golfer to 10th position in the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

With only one Asian Tour event scheduled before the cut-off date for Olympics qualification on 11 July, it is highly unlikely that Siddikur would slip out of the 60-man list, unless he endures a disastrous outing in that event [Yeangder Tournament Players Championship beginning June 30] and the others behind him come up with top-ten finishes there or in the European Tour events.

If that happens, Siddikur will be the first Bangladeshi sports person to qualify for the Olympic Games and not participate through wild cards. Usually Bangladeshi athletes participate in the quadrennial event through wild cards provided by the International Olympic Committee.