New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS): Former India golfer Ashok Malik believes that the government's support is a must to produce world champions in golf while adding that talents should be picked at a young age and mentored well throughout.

"I think parts of the government still consider it a rich man's sport so there is not much encouragement. We do need government help, without that it's not possible because to get champions we've to get them at a very young age and keep them going at it all the time. So they don't have any chance of getting alternate employment, they got to be looked after properly," Ashok told IANS.

The veteran golfer, who won the All-India Amateur Championships on five occasions, was not pleased with the Indian golfers' performance in the Paris Olympics. "I wasn't very happy and we should have done better," he said.

However, he remains hopeful of better results in the coming tournaments for the current crop of golfers but stressed the need to broaden the talent pool in the sport.

"Women are doing well. Aditi Ashok almost got a medal in Tokyo (Olympics) and she came close. Amongst the men, Shubhankar Sharma is one, Anirban Lahiri is doing well but we still have some way to go before we have a large enough pool," Ashok remarked.

The 86-year-old is the most senior member to participate in the ongoing edition of the Delhi Golf Club League (DGCL). He is playing for Birdie Machine in the tournament.

Commenting on his performance after the team's win over the Eagles and Birdies, Ashok said, "I didn't play well, it was a close match and we're down most of the time. We were three down after the 12th (hole), we made it all square and we made a mess in the last hole and lost that. We lost the two matches but today we won. We've to play much better."