Aditi Ashok’s Olympic medal hunt at Paris to get a tech boost

By Rahul Banerji

India’s lone face on the top-tier Ladies PGA Tour in the US, Aditi Ashok has sought to fine-tune her preparations for the Paris Summer Games with some hi-tech help.

The two-time Olympian has received approval from the Sports Authority of India’s Mission Olympic Cell to acquire a Trackman4 launch monitor ahead of the Paris Olympics in August. it has been learnt.

Aditi and fellow Tokyo Olympian Diksha Dagar are India’s likely women’s pairing for Paris while Shubhankar Sharma and Gaganjeet Bhullar are front-runners to make up the men’s team.

Golf medals at Le Golf Nacional in Paris will be contested by fields of 60 each in the men’s and women’s sections selected on the basis of their Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) placings.

The top 15 players on the OWGR are eligible for the Games, up to a maximum of four golfers from a single country.

Below that cut-off number, the two top players per country are eligible, on the basis of which Aditi, Diksha, Sharma and Bhullar are the ones in line to represent India at the Paris Games.

In pursuit of what has been assessed as the country’s best chance for a golf medal, the Mission Olympic Cell which approves customised programmes for selected athletes has given the go-ahead for Aditi to a top-of-the-line TrackMan4 launch monitor at a cost of Rs 14.52 lakh.

Flagship programme

The Mission Olympics Cell is part of the sports ministry’s flagship Target Olympic Podium Scheme launched in 2014 and run by the Sports Authority of India which has already led to medal success at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics.

Aditi came within two shots of a medal at the Tokyo Games, a late blip sending her out of the medal race at the Kasumigaseki Country Club despite a final round of 3 under par 68 that saw her finish behind the top three.

World number one Nelly Korda of the US won gold, and Japan’s Mone Inami took the silver in a playoff from New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (bronze).

Aditi’s 15 under for fourth place is the best finish of an Indian golfer at the Olympics while Diksha finished tied for 50^th at her first Summer Games.

At the Asian Games in China last year, Aditi held a seven-shot lead going into the final round in Hangzhou’s West Lake International Golf Course.

She would eventually squander that advantage mostly on the greens to come away with the silver medal with a 17 under total of 271 behind Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol, who finished on 19-under 269. Korea’s Hyunjo Yoo took bronze with a 16-under 272.

Sizzling round

Aditi’s run at Hangzhou included a career-best 11 under par 61 in the third round. It was India’s first golf medal at the Asiads to go with the six previous successes – three golf and as many silver – by the men in the past.

Given these two excellent performances that fell just short of achieving even better outcomes, SAI and the MOC could also consider offering the golfer the services of a mental conditioning coach or sports psychologist as it also falls within the TOPS ambit

According to the company’s website, the Trackman4 launch monitor brings with it several critical features including ball and club data from the Trackman Performance Studio that covers some 40 parameters including putting inputs.

The mobile unit uses an optically enhanced Doppler radar tracking (OERT) system that employs two radars and one camera for full ball flight monitoring beyond the launch point.

The data suite includes shot analysis, putting performance, and AI-supported motion analysis.

Aditi began her season with a win at the Magical Kenya Open on the Ladies European Tour and has shifted to the LPGA since.

Also read: Aditi Ashok on cusp of historic Olympic moment for Indian golf