Olympics: Golfer Aditi Ashok remains in hunt at the halfway stage

Tokyo, Aug 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) Indian golfer Aditi Ashok maintained her chances of finishing among the medals in the Tokyo Olympic Games by remaining in tied-second (T2) position at the halfway stage in the four-round individual strokeplay golf competition.

On Thursday, the 23-year-old Aditi returned a card of five-under 66 at the Kasumigaseki Country Club. Added with her first-round effort of 67, now has an Aditi has an aggregate score of nine-under 133 and is sharing the second spot with Danish duo Koerstz Madsen Nanna (69,64) and Emily Kristine Pedersen (67, 66) with Sagstrom Madelene a stroke behind at 134.

American golfer Nelly Korda, whose father Petr won the Australian Open tennis championship in 1998 while playing for their native Czech Republic, was leading after two rounds with a score of 13-under 129.

India's Diksha Dagar carded a one-over 72 in the second round to finish with a total score of six-over 148 (76, 72) and was placed tied-53 in the 60-woman field.

Aditi played a high-percentage game as she had three birdies on the last five holes. She took the turn at 34 and shot 32 on return journey on a hot day. She had a lone birdie on the 18th hole on Wednesday and looks in a good position to go for the medal.

"The last three holes, I had a couple of shots that were just a good number for me and I hadn't really had any short approaches all day, maybe just a couple," Aditi, ranked 200th in the world, was quoted as saying by the official website.

A two-time Olympian, Aditi was tied for the lead on one occasion before Nelly grabbed the top spot 'ith a women's Olympic record-tying score of nine-under. Nelly, the re'gning women's PGA Championships winner, was leading by four shots.

"I think whatever holes I get to play, whether it's 54 or 72, I'm not really going to sit on anything, I'm just going to try and be as aggressive and make more birdies," Aditi told the Olympic Golf channel.

Source: IANS