Coming into the final day with a commanding seven-stroke lead, Aditi saw the advantage evaporate as she stumbled upon four bogeys and a double bogey against a lone birdie to slip to the second position. In the forefront for the gold medal after three days, Aditi’s slump also saw the team slip from first to fourth and end without a medal. Aditi Ashok’s fortunes tumbled on the final day as she carded a horrendous five-over 77 to sign off with a silver for India’s first medal in women’s golf at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Sunday.
The fancied Chinese finished sixth. In the men’s section, Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho (62-60-70-69) was 27-under as he held on to his third-round lead to win gold. Korea’s PGA Tour winner, Sungjae Im (66-65-66-65) took silver at 26-under. Taipei’s Chien-Yao Hung (65-63-67-69) at 24-under won bronze. Korea won the team gold with a massive margin of 25 shots as they totalled 74-under, with Thailand (51-under) second and Hong Kong (50-under) finished third. An Indian squad comprising Lakshman, Rajiv, Rishi Narain and Amit Luthra had won the team gold in 1982, while the country also won two team silver medals in 2006 and 2010 editions at Doha and Guangzhou.
Overall, Korea was the only team to figure among medals in all four sections. Meanwhile in the men’s team, Anirban Lahiri showed recovery after being hit by the heat, as he shot 68 in the final round, but his teammates were way off. Lahiri was the top Indian at T-12, while the team was seventh.
