Aditi leads Hangzhou field by seven, India also set for team medal

By Rahul Banerji

Aditi Ashok holds a healthy seven-shot lead going into the final day of the women’s golf competition at the 19^th Hangzhou Asian Games on Saturday.

The LPGA regular fired a stunning 11-under 61 on Saturday at the West Lake International Course to total 22-under par 194 and carry India into pole position for a medal double.

With 18 holes to go, Aditi (66-67-61) is seven shots clear of Arpichaya Yubol (67-65-69) of Thailand and well-placed to bring home a historic gold. China’s Lin Xiyu (67-67-68) is third on 14-under 202.

No Indian woman has won an individual medal in golf at the Asian Games, and only two men – Lakshman Singh (1982) and Shiv Kapur (2002) – have done so.

India have also medalled in the men’s team events and the last Indian medal came at the Guangzhou Asian Games, also in China, back in 2010.

Aditi last played the Asian Games, as an amateur at the 2014 Games in Incheon, Korea, and finished 21^st.

Solid support

Aditi’s 11-under score was five shots better than the next best of the day. She received good support from Pranavi Urs (71-68-70) whose 7 under 207 helped the team aggregate to 29 under 403, one shot ahead of Thailand and China in tied second place.

While Pranavi is placed tied 11^th, the third member of the team, Avani Prashanth (72-69-74), is 1-under 219 and shared 19th. Together, Aditi and Pranavi helped India gain five shots and the lead on Saturday.

In the men’s section however, India slipped down the order and are in eighth place on 32-under 616, Event leaders South Korea are 26 shots up the road on 58-under 590 with three best scores counting.

Thailand (44-under 604) and Hong Kong (45 under 605) are second and third on the team table.

Anirban Lahiri continued to struggle in the conditions and added a 2-over 74 to his opening scores of 65 and 67 to share 17^th place, well down from his overnight placing.

Two-time Indian Open winner S.S.P. Chawrasia shared 20th place with a 68 in the third round and Khalin Joshi (69) was T24. Shubhankar Sharma’s 4-over 76 on Saturday saw him drop to T34 at 3-under.

Good going

Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho (70) led the men’s event on 24 under 192 with Taipei’s Chien-Yao Hung (67) on 21-under and Korea’s Jang Yubin (68) on 20-under in third place.

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

On Saturday, she birdied the second hole and picked up further shots on holes four, five, seven and eight to get to 5-under.

A second eagle of the week followed on the short par-4 ninth to help her turn in 7-under 29.

On the back nine, a birdie on 12 was followed by more on 15, 17, and 18 to get her total to 11-under, the week’s best score.

Pranavi had three birdies against one bogey, while Avani had two birdies and two bogeys in the first 17 holes and a closing double on 18 in her 74.

Also read: Aditi T2, women’s team are third; Lahiri ninth at Hangzhou