Aditi Ashok has said she "left nothing there", after finishing a nailbite for women's golf at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday saw her card 3-under in the fourth round, but missed out on a medal by just one stroke.
"Coming in, I tried my best to pierce the last few putts and just knowing whether in a regular tournament you finish second or fourth doesn't really matter. But in this event you need to be in the top three. is required," he said. Ashoka, who finished fourth behind Nelly Korda of America, Mone Inami of Japan won the silver medal in the playoffs ahead of Lydia Ko of New Zealand. "I didn't leave anything there, I guess I gave it my hundred percent, but, yeah, fourth in an Olympics where they award three medals."
Ashok's performance matched that of Indian sporting legends like Milkha Singh, PT Usha, Abhinav Bindra and Dipa Karmakar, who missed out on a podium finish. When he was reminded of the company being involved in the Indian game, Ashok spoke about the importance of how his performance this week could affect the Indian game. "No, I didn't really know that. Obviously I've joined that now - you don't want to join that club. But yeah, I think I joined."
"But no, I think it's good, even a top five or a top 10 in the Olympics is really good. Because you know that sport or that person has a medal chance. So Just getting more top spots, even if it's not exactly a podium finish, will probably bring eyes and more support to the game, more kids will pick it up, more, whatever, which helps enhance the game," she said.
Ashoka's performance in the final round itself was still very good, as she recovered from bogeys on the 9th and 11th with successive birdies on the 13th and 14th, coming a long way from the top. In fact, she missed a 4.52m putt for a birdie on the penalty hole - one where the play went on for almost an hour with wind and some rain with it - with the ball just skimming overhead with the pin. Had she completed that shot, she would have gone into a tie for the bronze medal, and would have been in contention for a silver because the prizewinner did a bogey.
"Yeah, 17 was perfect. I hit it at exactly the pace I wanted, I wanted to, I just — maybe I made a lot through four rounds, the golfing gods were like, 'Well, we don't. Gonna give him this one'," she said. "But no, I tried my best, even the last hole, although it was really out of bounds, it was almost a long put, but I still tried to give it a chance. So yeah, I think I gave it my best effort."
However, Ashok also added that his driving on the last day left him disappointed. "I think today I didn't really run the ball very well and then it's hard to get a birdie put or hit green when you're not in the fairway. So, yeah, that's definitely the hardest part of scoring today was," she said. After Friday's third-round game, Ashok had revealed that testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this year has given him some strength, reducing his driving distance.
Ashok said she wants Indian youth to take her as an example of how far "working hard and having fun" every day can take you.
"When I started golf I never dreamed of being or competing in the Olympics, golf wasn't even an Olympic sport. So sometimes you just pick it up and work hard and have fun every day and sometimes -Sometimes you get here."