33rd Queen Sirikit Golf Cup from March 9

Teen brigade of Vani Kapoor, Gauri Monga, Aditi Ashok and Mehar Atwal will represent India in the 33rd Queen Sirikit Golf Cup to be held at the Delhi Golf Club here from March 9.

Rita Punwawni, chairperson of Indian Golf Union (IGU) ladies section, will shoulder the responsibility of captaining the unit.

"They have a bright chance and hopefully they will better the best ever Indian performance at the tournament," she said. The best ever show for India was way back in 1986 when the trio of Nonita Lall Qureshi, Shiraz Shaheed and Ranjit Grewal finished fourth at the same venue.

Qureshi, who has represented the country in previous 15 editions, will be the coach of the team for the upcoming event.

She was skeptical about the team's chances of bettering the previous record but hoped home conditions would work in its favour.

"Realistically it will be tough. The average score of team finishing fourth over the years in the tournament has been around par 72," Qureshi emphasised.

"Aditi Ashok is a young little talent but she is still raw, she needs to pull up her socks. But if on the given day she scores, with Vani and Gauri there we can expect a better result."

Talking to the reporters on the occasion, Vani said the team has been preparing hard from the tournament. "We would do well in this tournament. We know the course here very well which will hopefully work in our favour," she said.

When asked what differentiates India from its competitors, the 16-year-old said, "The amount of hard work which we put into the game. The Indians are really hardworking."

She however said that the defending champions Korea will be a tough nut to crack.

The tournament, that will return to India after a gap of more than a decade with the 1998 edition, will witness 14 teams from across the world vying for the coveted trophy.