Aditi Ashok, Indian women's golf team close in on historic golds at Asian Games

Aditi Ashok and the Indian women's golf team are both in commanding positions to win historic gold medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou ahead of the final day of action on Sunday.

Aditi played a sensational third round of 11-under 61 on Saturday to now be T1, with a comfortable gap having been created with the 2nd-place woman.

Indian women have never won a medal at the Asian Games. Aditi had finished a distant 21st at the Incheon Games in 2014.

India’s other two players, Pranavi Urs (71-68-70) at 7-under and Avani Prashanth (72-69-74) at 1-under are 11th and tied 19th respectively.

Among male golfers, Aniraban Lahiri is the highest ranked player ahead of the final day, tied 17th. SSP Chawrasia is tied 20th and Khalin Joshi with a card of 69 is tied 24th. Shubhankar Sharma shot a wayward 76 that saw him dropping to tied 34th.

The Indian men’s team are also out of the reckoning for a medal, as they are eighth with a total of 32 under, having a huge deficit from the top three teams.

Aditi, who was fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, is now 22-under with rounds of 67-66-61 for a total of 22-under after 54 holes. Her closest rival, Arpichaya Yubol (67-65-69) is 15-under, while China’s Lin Xiyu (67-67-68) is 14-under.

The Indian women's team's hold on the team gold is a little more tenuous. India only have a one-shot lead in the team competition over Thailand. China, at 3rd, are just three shots behind.

Aditi has dropped just one shot in 54 holes and that came in the second round.

In the 2018 Asian Games, India had not won any medals in golf. The men's team finished in seventh place, while the highest individual rankings among Indian male golfers were shared by Rayhan Thomas and Aadil Bedi, both at 13th place. On the women's side, the Indian team fhad inished in eighth place, and the highest individual ranking was achieved by Ridhima Dilawari, who reached 17th place.

India has won a total of six medals in golf at the Asian Games, with three gold and three silver medals.

Gold- Individual men (1982 New Delhi, 2002 Busan), Team Men (1982 New Delhi)

Silver- Individual Men (1982 New Delhi), Team Men (2006 Doha, 2010 Guangzhou)