Countdown to Tokyo Olympics: Know Your Olympian- Aditi Ashok

Aditi Ashok became the first Indian woman golfer to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. The final ranking was released on Tuesday and Ashok secured her spot by qualifying 45th. Aditi will be participating in her second Games after the Rio Olympics in 2016.

“I still think of Rio 2016 like it was only yesterday. To have the honour of playing for India is beyond exciting. I am privileged to have the opportunity to represent my country and my sport at the Games again,” the golfer tweeted. The young Ashok is considered to be one of the best Indian female golfers as she leads the golf revolution in India.

Aditi Ashok’s Journey Began at a Very Young Age

Ashok was born in a middle-class family in Bengaluru and studied at the Frank Anthony Public School, where she graduated in 2016. She first expressed her interest in golf at the young age of 5, a time when there were only 3 golf courses in Bangalore. She asked her father to take her to the golf course, and since then she’s never looked back.

Aditi Ashok started practicing regularly and start competing in local tournaments quite frequently. At the age of just 13, she won her first state level tournament, the Karnataka Junior and 2011 South Indian Junior Championships. She continued to impress as she won the National Amateur Title that year.

She left the nation shocked when she won National Junior Championships not once, but three years in a row, in 2012, 2013, and 2014. She also held the Junior and Senior titles in 2014.

Aditi Ashok created Many firsts for Women’s Golf in India

Ashok continued to build her record, as she became the only Indian golfer to compete in the 2013 Asian Youth Games, the 2014 Youth Olympics, and the 2014 Asian Games. Her turning point came when she won the Ladies British Amateur Stroke Play Championship in 2015.

She turned pro on 1st January 2016 and created history when she became the first Indian woman to qualify for the Rio Olympics, just at the age of 18. She was also the youngest contender in the women’s event. She played remarkably, and even though she qualified 57th for the Olympics, she led the second round at the Olympic Golf Course for a brief period, making her an overnight sensation.

Unfortunately, she did not have much competitive experience since she turned pro, and she eventually finished 41st out of the 60 golfers, 23 shots behind eventual gold medallist Inbee Park. “I read somewhere that the Google searches for golf from India were huge after that. Just seeing the impact it had and the exposure it got at the time was a big deal for me,” she told the Olympic website.

Aditi Ashok’s Journey to the Tokyo Olympics

After the Rio Olympics, Aditi continued her success, winning her first Ladies European Tour (LET) title in October that year. She won her second title in the Qatar Open a week later and won the LET Rookie of the year award. In 2017, she became the first  LPGA player from India and stood eight in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year rankings.

 With 17 cuts at 24 events, two top-10 finishes in 2018, and her career highest finish came as a T6 result at the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic. In 2019, Ashok made 13 cut out of 22 LPGA Tour events, with the best season finish of T13 at CP Women’s Open.

She qualified for her second Olympics this year and will be going to the Olympics along with Anirban Lahiri and Udayan Mane.

Also read: Countdown to Tokyo Olympics: Know your Olympian- Tajinder Pal Singh Toor

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