BENGALURU: Twelve-year-old Avani Prashanth is among those kids who always knew what they wanted. Since she was three, she has been one of the biggest fans of golf, often observing her father and grandfather play the sport in their spare time. Now, the Class 7 student of Greenwood High International School is set to participate in US Kids Golf World Championship scheduled to be held at Pinehurst, North Carolina, from August 1-3.
Avani says she has never been nervous but always excited about tournaments. “I attend about 11-15 tournaments, both domestic and international, every year,” says Avani, who dominates the C-category in the Indian Golf Union (IGU) Junior Girls Amateur Golf Championship.
Avani has won five of the last seven IGU National Junior Golf Championships held across India in C-category (Girls 11-13) in the last seven months. She also won IGU Jharkhand Ladies and Junior girls Golf Championship held recently at Jamshedpur. So how does she manage her passion and academics? “Right now, I practise golf four days a week and exercise for three days.
I practise six hours a day and my friends send notes so that I stay updated on the day’s school work. My mother also helps me at home,” says Avani.Though Bengaluru is a golf hub, the sport still requires a junior team to represent the country, she feels. “As of now, there is only a team for players aged 13 years and above,” she says.
Avani wishes to represent India at the 2024 Olympics and win gold. “Her dream is to become the No.1 professional golfer in the world, and be an inspiration to girls to take up the sport,” her father, M S Prashanth, a former VP of an MNC, says.