Indian golfer Pranavi Urs made history at the Asian Games by securing India's first-ever gold medal in women's golf with a dramatic individual stroke play victory. The 23-year-old brought a three-stroke cushion into the final round after a stellar four-under 66 on Day 3. Holding her nerve in a tense final-round battle, she parred the 72nd hole to finish top of the leaderboard at 15-under par. To top off her campaign, Pranavi also anchored India-alongside Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar-to a team silver medal with a combined score of 14-under par, behind champions China (-22).
Her double-medal triumph holds immense historical significance, breaking a long-standing barrier for Indian women's golf. Prior to this, India's only women's golf medal was Aditi Ashok's silver at Hangzhou. By converting her lead into individual gold and team silver, Urs leaves Aichi-Nagoya as a true trailblazer on the continental stage.
The 23-year-old from Mysore sent in three birdies to recover from a horrendous triple bogey on the third hole, which had wiped away her three-stroke overnight lead.
With a final round score of even-par 70, she ended with a total of 15-under 265 for four days, a stroke ahead of the pack. The silver went to China's Yin Ruoning (67) and bronze was taken by Singapore's Shannon Tan (68) following a playoff after both ended with overall scores of 266 in what was a tense finish for the top three.
"I like being the first to do things. People will come along to do more but the first will always be the first," a jubilant Pranavi said after the historic triumph.
Pranavi's performance, that included birdies on the 6th, 10th and 13th holes in the final round, also became a crucial factor in fetching India the team silver with other members being Aditi Ashok (67 in final round) and Diksha Dagar (77 in final round).
Olympian Aditi, who had won an individual silver in the last edition of the Games, produced her best performance of the week, slamming in five consecutive birdies against a double bogey and a bogey, to sign off tied 14th individually with a two-over 282 total. Diksha ended tied 23rd on the individual leaderboard with a 12-over total.
The two best scores are taken into account for deciding the team medals and India ended 14-under 546, well behind gold-winners China (22-under 538).
The trio thus ensured the best ever performance by an Indian women's golf team at the Asian Games.
Pranavi's medal was India's first golfing gold since the 2002 men's individual top honours bagged by Shiv Kapur.
It was also the best Indian performance since the 1982 Delhi Asiad, the year in which golf became a part of the Games roster.
In that edition, Lakshman Singh had bagged the individual men's gold, and joined Amit Luthra, and Rajiv Mohta to bag the team honours as well.
With PTI Inputs
from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/xkfoZd1