Aditi Ashok will be motivated to make amends for her near-miss at the Tokyo Games, while Diksha Dagar will want to recover from the trauma of a car tragedy when the two Indian golfers begin their campaigns at the Paris Games on Wednesday. Aditi, a two-time Olympian, came agonizingly close to winning a medal in Tokyo three years ago but finished fourth, and she will want redemption this time. Diksha, on the other hand, escaped unharmed despite being engaged in a vehicle accident that hospitalized her mother. However, the 23-year-old from Jhajjar has overcome all obstacles and is motivated to achieve Olympic triumph.
A quarter of the field, or 15 out of 60 players, in the women’s Olympic golf competition have competed in all three Games since the sport was reinstated in 2016, including Aditi. Her colleague Diksha Dagar, who is making her second Olympic debut, is one of 36 players who have competed in at least one previous Olympics.
Aditi starts with Gaby Lopez (Mexico) and Esther Henseleit (Germany) at 9.22 a.m. local time (12.52 p.m. IST), while Diksha begins at 10:55 a.m. with Wei-Ling Hsu (Chinese Taipei) and Emma Spitz (Austria).
The women’s competition lasts from Wednesday to Saturday.
Aditi won her home tournament, the Hero Women’s Indian Open, as a rookie in 2016, and has since won five times on the Ladies European Tour but has yet to win on the LPGA. She’s been on the LPGA since 2017.
Aditi’s greatest moment came in 2021 when she came close to winning an Olympic gold but ended fourth. Despite losing out on a medal, she was praised by the entire nation, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Diksha is a unique athlete who has competed in both the Deaflympics (the Olympics for hearing-impaired athletes) and the regular Olympics. Diksha, a double medalist in the Deaflympics, qualified for Tokyo at the last minute. This time, her sustained performance in 2023 and 2024 earned her a spot months earlier.
Diksha had an unexpected shock in Paris when the car she was traveling in with her family, including her father Col Narendra Dagar, who also caddies for her, was involved in an accident.
While Diksha and her father were completely unharmed, her brother had minor injuries.
Aditi recently finished tied for 22nd in the LPGA Tour’s Portland Classic, which concluded on Sunday. Aditi had her father, Ashok, on the bag in 2016, and her mother, Maheshwari, caddying for her in Tokyo. Her father, who has been with her on the LPGA the majority of the time, will be on duty again in Paris.
In Tokyo, Nelly Korda (United States) won gold, while Mone Inami of Japan defeated Lydia Ko (New Zealand) for silver with a two-putt par on the first extra hole. Ko won bronze, while Aditi from India finished fourth, which was heartbreaking.
In Rio 2016, Inbee Park (Republic of Korea) won gold, Lydia Ko grabbed silver, and Shanshan Feng of China won bronze. Lydia is the only player to have won two medals and is seeking her third and first gold. The 60-athlete field includes athletes from 33 different countries. This week’s competition features twelve of the top fifteen players.
The field includes six Rolex Rankings World No. 1 players: Jin Young Ko (Korea), Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Nelly Korda (USA), Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand), Lilia Vu (USA), and Running Yin (China). Minjee Lee of Australia will make her third participation at the Olympics, after her brother Min Woo’s debut in the men’s category last week. The Lees are the only brother and sister team in Olympic golf.
Celine Boutier and Perrine Delacour will represent France in the women’s Olympic golf competition. Boutier had the finest season of her career in 2023, winning four races, including a major title, the Amundi Evian title, in her native country. Listen to the newest songs only on JioSaavn.com. Before 2016, women’s golf was included in the Olympics twice, in 1900 and 1904.