With gold within grasp, Aditi stumbles to silver

Aditi Ashok won the first-ever medal for Indian women’s golf in the 19th Asian Games at Hangzhou, but what looked like a sure-shot gold at the start of the day, turned into a silver nobody expected, thanks to the mind-numbing vagaries of the sport.

- Joy Chakravarty

How else can one explain a round of 77 with just one birdie, less than 24 hours after a stunning nine-birdie, one-eagle, career-low 61? How could Ashok not drop a single long putt after making everything from the next postcode and beyond on Saturday? How could her arrow-like tee shots desert her to the extent that she missed eight fairways during the round?

The five-over par 77 was her worst round of the year (76s at the US Open and AIG Women’s British Open – both majors). Apart from the age-old, and rather illogical, adage of the game – it’s almost impossible to follow one low round with another – it was all more intriguing than a whole season of 'X Files'.

Despite the Sunday 77, Ashok had done enough good work earlier in the week to collect India’s 39th medal in Hangzhou with a four-day tally of 17-under par. Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol made the most of her misfortune and shot a four-under-par 68 to claim the gold medal at -19 total.