Aditi Ashok eyes redemption after heart-break in Tokyo, Diksha too chases Olympic glory

Aditi Ashok will be determined to make up for her ‘near-miss’ at the Tokyo Games, while Diksha Dagar will look to overcome the trauma of a car accident as the two Indian golfers begin their campaign at the Paris Games on Wednesday.

Two-time Olympian Aditi had come agonisingly close to securing a medal before finishing fourth three years ago in Tokyo and will seek redemption this time.

Diksha, on the other hand, escaped unhurt after being involved in a car accident that left her mother hospitalised. But the 23-year-old Jhajjar has shrugged off all problems and is determined for Olympic success.

A quarter of the field, which means 15 out of 60 players, in the women’s Olympic golf competition have played in all three Games since the sport returned to the programme in 2016 and Aditi is one of them.

Her teammate Diksha Dagar, who is making her second Olympic appearance, is one of the 36 players in the field, who have played at least one Olympic Games before this one.

Aditi tees off with Gaby Lopez (Mexico) and Esther Henseleit (Germany) at 9.22 am local time (12.52 pm IST), while Diksha plays with Wei-Ling Hsu (Chinese Taipei) and Emma Spitz (Austria) from 10:55 a.m.

The women’s competition runs from Wednesday to Saturday.

A rookie winner at her home event, the Hero Women’s Indian Open back in 2016, Aditi has now won five times on the Ladies European Tour but is still awaiting her maiden success on the LPGA. She has been on the LPGA since 2017.

Aditi’s big moment came in 2021 when she was within a whisker of an Olympic medal, but finished fourth. Despite missing out on a medal she was appreciated by the entire country including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Diksha is a rare athlete, who has competed in both the Deaflympics (Olympics for hearing impaired athletes) and the main Olympics. A double medallist in the Deaflympics, Diksha qualified for Tokyo almost at the last minute. This time, her consistent showing in 2023 and 2024 won her a place months ahead.

In Paris, Diksha suffered an unexpected scare when the car she was travelling in with her family, including her father Col Narendar Dagar, who also caddies for her, suffered an accident.

While Diksha and her father were totally unhurt, her brother got some minor injuries. However, Diksha’s mother hurt her back and had to be hospitalised. She is now recovering.

Aditi is coming off a tie for 22nd at the LPGA Tour’s Portland Classic that ended this past Sunday. She played four weeks in row since the Amundi Evian and this is her fifth week on the trot.

Aditi had her father, Ashok, on bag in 2016 and then it was her mother Maheshwari caddying for her in Tokyo. Her father, who has been with her on the LPGA most of the time, will be doing the duty again in Paris.

In Tokyo, Nelly Korda (United States) won the gold, while Mone Inami of Japan beat Lydia Ko (New Zealand) for the silver medal with a two-putt par on the first extra hole. Ko got the bronze and India’s Aditi ended a heart-breaking fourth.

In Rio in 2016, Inbee Park (Republic of Korea) won the gold, while Lydia Ko took the silver and Shanshan Feng (China) was the bronze medallist.

So Lydia is the only player to have medalled twice and is looking for a third one and a first gold.

A total of 33 countries are represented in the 60-athlete field. Twelve of the top 15 players are competing this week.

Six players who are or have reached World No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, Jin Young Ko (Korea), Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Nelly Korda (USA), Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand), Lilia Vu (USA), Ruoning Yin (China) are among the players in the field.

Minjee Lee of Australia will be making her third Olympic appearance following her brother Min Woo’s Olympic debut in the men’s competition last week. The Lees are the only brother-sister combination in the Olympic golf fields.

Celine Boutier is one of two players to represent France in the women’s Olympic golf competition, along with Perrine Delacour. Boutier had the best season of her career in 2023 where she earned four wins, including a major championship, The Amundi Evian Championship, in her home country.

Prior to 2016, women’s golf was contested in the Olympics twice in the early 1900s (1900 and 1904).