TOKYO, Aug 6: Indian golfer Aditi Ashok carded a three-under 67 in the third round to hold on to the second position and remain in strong contention for the country’s maiden Olympic medal in the sport here on Friday.
The Bengalurean, who has her mother, Maheshwari, on the bag, shot five birdies against two bogeys and moved to 12-under, three strokes adrift of leader Nelly Korda of USA who carded a two-under 69 in the penultimate round.
Four players – New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (66), Australia’s Hannah Green (67), Demark’s Kristine Pederson (70) and Japan’s Mone Inami (68) – shared the third spot with totals of 10-under 203.
Aditi fired five birdies and two bogeys on the day. She was three-under after picking up shots on fourth, sixth and seventh holes before bogeys on ninth and 11th pulled her back.
However, she made amends with birdies on the 15th and 17th to keep herself in the hunt for a historic medal.
The other Indian golfer in fray, Diksha Dagar, remained in the lower half of the leaderboard after an erratic one-over 72, her third successive over-par card of the week.
The tournament faces possible interruption and the final round could even be cancelled because of the forecast of a tropical storm on Saturday and maybe even Sunday.
The organisers have brought forward the tee times for the final round and have the option of playing on Sunday morning if weather permits.
They are hopeful of completing 72 holes, but if 72 holes cannot be completed, the tournament will revert to being a 54 holes tournament. That would mean Aditi will have silver behind Nelly Korda’s gold. (PTI)
