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The International Golf Federation could not have asked for more with the way women’s Olympic golf competition was shaping up.
Unlike men, the world’s best ladies embraced the tournament, with 14 of the top 15 players in the world arriving at Kasumigaseki Golf Club. And having dodged a serious weather bullet, Saturday’s final round featured the reigning world No. 1, American Nelly Korda, and the popular former world No. 1, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko.
And yet, it was the third player in the group – at No. 200 in the Rolex Rankings – who was moving the needle.
India’s Aditi Ashok, a slender 23-year-old who is yet to record a top-five finish (in individual events) on the LPGA in five years, was in contention. She had single-handedly managed to elevate golf to street-talk status in her cricket-crazy home country. Her extraordinary performance through the first three rounds got 1.4 billion people chatting.
Within the space of four days, there were millions of Google searches on the difference between birdies and bogeys. People tried to become golf experts by watching clips on YouTube. Frantic messages were being texted to friends to find out how the scoring worked and why under par was better than over par.
As tee times were advanced because of a threatening thunderstorm in the Saitama area during the final round, Sony, the Olympic broadcaster in India, decided to televise the complete round on two different channels – one accompanied with the international commentary feed in English, but the other, in a most remarkable first for Indian TV, with Hindi commentary.
In Ashok’s hometown, Bengaluru, India’s very own Silicon Valley, a handful of people put up a large screen at the KGA Course and were at the club as early as 4 a.m. Around the same time, I was invited to join a Twitter Space chat on the final round, and was completely taken by surprise to see nearly 100 participants logged in.
Starting the day three shots behind Korda, but solo second and two ahead in silver medal position, much was expected from Ashok. Apart from its golden years in field hockey until the 1980s, India has faced a severe shortage of medals of any color, in any discipline.
Those who have been associated with the sport are hopeful that it now can become a part of the mainstream consciousness. The Indian Golf Union, the governing body of the sport in the country, realizes they now have an opportunity to make a much better case to the government.
Even as hope took over – just as it does before every Olympics – die-hard fans were not expecting much from the golfers. In the men’s event, Anirban Lahiri and Udayan Mane made it to the field of 60 as the 59th and 60th names. Ashok was ranked 45th in the Olympics list, while Diksha Dagar was a last-minute entry at No. 60.
In the end, as Ko and Japan’s Mone Inami made a charge with identical rounds of 6-under-par 65, Ashok’s battling 68 proved valiant.
Even those without intricate knowledge of the game realized how close Aditi came to a miracle. Social media like Twitter went on an overdrive in her support as she became the No. 1 trending topic in the country – a preserve of Bollywood stars, cricketer players and politicians. She was also the No. 4 most talked about person on Twitter worldwide.
Both the President, Mr. Ram Nath Kovind, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, took to Twitter – another first for Indian golf – despite her finishing fourth.
The President, who has the most exclusive nine-hole course as part of his official residence in New Delhi, said: “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 Modi 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.”
Indian golf has suffered through the years because it is considered elitist. There are just 220 golf courses in the country – and most of them are built inside secured areas owned by the armed forces. There is a severe lack of facilities, and hence a lack of access to the sport.
Those who have been associated with the sport are hopeful that it now can become a part of the mainstream consciousness. The Indian Golf Union, the governing body of the sport in the country, realizes it now has an opportunity to make a much better case to the government.
“Thanks to what Aditi has managed to do, we feel that we may have the government’s ears now. There was a feeling among the power that be that in Rio and in Tokyo, our golfers were just making up the numbers. I think they now understand that our players can compete at the highest level and I am expecting a lot more cooperation and proactive support for Paris 2024 and thereafter,” said Ishwar Achanta, the treasurer of IGU.
“It’s not going to be easy, but we will definitely urge the government to consider giving us space for a few nine-hole municipal courses and driving range in some of the more populous cities. If we somehow make that happen, it would be the best outcome of Aditi’s enormous effort.”
They say a fourth-place finish in the Olympics doesn’t amount to much. But if India can somehow channel the Aditi Ashok effect properly, people will be talking about this particular fourth place for many years.
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