Malaysian golfer Ashley Lau qualifies for first Olympic Games
Ashley Lau became the 22nd Malaysian to qualify for the Paris Olympics at the end of the women’s golf qualifying period on June 24.
Lau, 24, had a stellar college career at the University of Michigan before turning professional in December 2022. The Sarawakian golfer won her first professional title in February at the Victorian Open in Australia on Feb 4.
She is currently ranked world No. 264 after peaking at No. 232 in April this year.
Golf is limited to 60 men’s and 60 women’s players through the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), with the top 15 players eligible, up to a maximum of four golfers from a single country.
After the top 15, the OWGR consists of up to the top two eligible players per country, as long as that country does not already have at least two players in the top 15.
Lau will make her Olympic debut in Paris, joining seasoned golfer Gavin Green in the Malaysian contingent. Green played in the 2016 Rio Olympics. He finished 47th in Brazil, and was joint 57th at the Tokyo Games.
Besides the two golfers, the other Malaysians who have punched their tickets to Paris are archers Ariana Nur Dania Zairi, Nurul Azreena Fazil and Syaqiera Mashayikh. They will compete in the women’s recurve team and individual event.
Badminton will have Malaysia’s largest contingent with Lee Zii Jia (men’s singles) and Goh Jin Wei (women’s singles), Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (men’s doubles), Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan (women’s doubles), and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (mixed doubles).
Cycling will contribute four athletes – Nur Aisyah Mohamad Zubir (road race), and Datuk Azizulhasni Awang, Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri (track).
Bertrand Rhodict Lises is the only diver going to Paris, while sailing has two qualifiers – Khairulnizam Afendy and Nur Shazrin Mohd Latif.
Johnathan Wong (shooting) and weightlifter Aniq Kasdan are the other qualifiers.
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