BENGALURU: Milkha Singh (1960, Rome), PT Usha (1984, Los Angeles), Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi (2004, Athens), Joydeep Karmakar (2012, London), Dipa Karmakar (2016, Rio), India women’s hockey team (2020, Tokyo). These are some of the remarkable ‘so close, yet so far’ fourth-place finishes for Indian athletes in the Olympics. Now, add one more to that ever-growing list, Aditi Ashok, who came agonisingly close to a medal, but lady luck had some other plans as she finished fourth by just one shot on Saturday.
“No, I didn’t know that actually. Obviously now that I’ve joined that (list)... You don’t want to join that club, but yeah, I guess I’ve joined it. But no, I think it’s good, just even top 5 or top 10 at an Olympics is really good. Because you know that sport or that person has a medal chance. So just having more top finishes, even if it’s not exactly a podium finish, will maybe bring eyes to the sport and more support, more kids pick up more, whatever, that helps grow the game,” said Aditi.
It was a heartbreaking moment for the girl from Bengaluru, who had finished her previous three rounds in the top three. That raised the hopes of a nation for a surprise medal at Tokyo. But, the day she slipped to fourth, it was the final round, shattering her dreams of an Olympic medal. For a very brief moment, she was even tied with eventual gold medallist, Nelly Korda for first place on Saturday.
Though she started the day in second place, Japan’s Mone Inami (nine birdies, three bogeys) and New Zealand’s Ko Ludia (nine birdies, three bogeys) upped their game to surge ahead and later won the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Compare that to Aditi’s five birdies and two bogeys. Aditi was in for a shout until the end, but things didn’t go as planned. Even if she had made a single birdie in one of the last four holes, things would have been better.
“Yeah, 17 was perfect. I hit it exactly the speed I wanted, the line I wanted, I just — maybe I made too many (birdies) through the four rounds, golfing gods were like we’re not going to give her this one. But no, I just tried my best, even the last hole, although it was really out of range, it was almost a long putt, but I still tried to give it a chance. So I think I gave it my best attempt,” she said. However, take nothing away from Aditi’s performance at Tokyo. It will go down as one of the best displays by an Indian Olympian.