Will Aditi Ashok win India's Olympic medal in golf? Chances, score, updates, all you need to know

The 23-year-old Ashok has kept herself as a medal contention in Tokyo Olympics following three impressive rounds of play in the Women's Individual Stroke Play in the second position.

Ashok, who finished at 41st place in Rio 2016, is the only person to be in second place right now, with another round of action yet to be unfolded. Round 4, which was to be held later today, has been rescheduled to Saturday, August 7, at 3 AM IST due to bad weather.

In Round 3, Ashok managed to score three-under 68. She managed a Birdie on Holes 4, 6, 7, 15, and 17 to finish her round at three-under. She is currently 12-under with a total of 201. However, round one and two were better for Aditi, where she finished 4-under and 5-under.

She is among the two Indian women golfers representing the nation Tokyo Olympics alongside Diksha Dagar, who remains tied at 51st place.

Here's an explanation of how Golf individual stroke play is scored at the Olympics:

In individual stroke play, 60 athletes play four rounds of 18 holes. Each round goes over one day, which means four rounds go over four days and the golfers compete for over 72 holes. The course remains the same for all four rounds.

Each of the 18 holes has a number attached to it for strokes, depending on the difficulty of the course. And the length from the tee (peg placed on the ground for the first stroke of each hole) to green (culmination of a golf hole). The number of strokes attached to a hole could be three, four, or five.

If a player hits the ball into the hole in as many number of strokes attached to the hole, then it is called a par. Putting the ball in one stroke less than par is called a birdie, which is good. Putting the ball in two strokes less than par is called an eagle, which is very good.

Similarly, if someone fails to score a par and take one extra stroke, it's called bogey, which is bad; two extra strokes than par is called double bogey, which means very bad.

Scoring a par Par score for a round at the Tokyo Olympics has 71 points attached to it for 18 holes. If a player makes green in 68 strokes, he/she will achieve three under. Similarly, if someone makes green in 67 strokes, he/she will achieve four-under, which is invariably better than three-under.

A total of 60 players compete in all the rounds and at the end of all four rounds, whoever has achieved the best score with the least number of strokes played, wins.

In case of a tie after four rounds, the winner is decided through a separate play-off.

How has Aditi Ashok performed so far?

In the three rounds, Aditi has scored 67, 66, 68, respectively. four-under in the first round, five-under in the second round, and three-under in the third round make for a total of 12-under.

She is ahead of third-place New Zealand's Lydia Ko and three others by two strokes, who have a score of 203 against Ashok's 201.

The top-placed American Nelly Korda has a 15-under, three fewer strokes than Ashok at 198.

How can Aditi Ashok win a medal at Tokyo Olympics?

Aditi Ashok has to maintain her consistent under-par strokes by the end of round 4 and probably has to eye more eagles and birdies so that the third-placed golfers do not overtake her. Ashok can match up to Korda's performance if the American falters somewhere in Round 4.

She will take the course again for round 4 on August 7 at 4.48 AM. However, inclement weather is expected in Tokyo. If round 4 gets cancelled at any chance, Aditi will be handed the silver medal as she is in the second position on the tie.