Jalandhar: Indian golfer Aditi Ashok on Saturday narrowly missed out on historic medal win and finished her Tokyo Olympics 2020 journey on the famous fourth in the women’s individual stroke play. The Indian golfer finished the final day with 68 (-3) at the Kasumigaseki Country Club. World No. 1 Nelly Korda of the USA clinched gold with 17 under par.
Talking about her defeat, she said, “I think today I didn’t really drive the ball very well and then it’s hard to get birdie putts or hit greens when you’re not in the fairway. So, yeah, that was definitely the hardest part to make a score today. I mean the 15th was okay, it was nothing, I was just scrambling, I was in between clubs so I hit one more and it went over. But I don’t think it was that bad. I still made a par, so it’s fine. I was just missing so many fairways. So that was what was bad today, kind of put me out of position so I couldn’t get close to the flag. Yeah, 17th was perfect. I hit it exactly the speed I wanted, the line I wanted. Maybe (because) I made too many through the four rounds, golfing gods were like, okay, we’re not going to give her this one. But no, I just tried my best. Even on the last hole, although it was really out of range (25 feet), it was almost a long putt, but I still tried to give it a chance. So yeah, I think I gave it my best attempt,” she said.
Applauding her efforts, President of India, Ramnath Kovind also extended his wishes to the young Indian golfer on twitter and wrote, “Well played, Aditi Ashok! One more daughter of India makes her mark! You have taken Indian golfing to new heights by today’s historic performance. You have played with immense calm and poise. Congratulations for the impressive display of grit and skills.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauded Indian golfer’s commendable skill during the ongoing Tokyo Olympics 2020 and said, “Well played @aditigolf! You have shown tremendous skill and resolve during #Tokyo2020. A medal was narrowly missed but you’ve gone farther than any Indian and blazed a trail. Best wishes for your future endeavours.”
The 23-year-old golfer rolled in five birdies to be placed a famous fourth on fifteen-under 201 ahead of Australia’s Hannah Green and Denmark’s Pedersen who tied for fifth.
Social media flooded with well wishes and praises for her splendid quality show in golf. Ace India golfer Jeev Milkha Singh, impressed with her performance said that she has given a new hope to youngsters.
“Aditi Ashok has created history by finishing fourth in the competition. Golf was introduced in the Olympics in 2016 after a long span of time she has now given new hope to all youngsters,” he said.