Analysis of India's performance in Golf at the Paris Olympics 2024 ft. Aditi Ashok
The four Indian golfers who participated in the men's and women's individual competitions at the Paris 2024 Olympics were Aditi Ashok, Diksha Dagar, Shubhankar Sharma, and Gaganjeet Bhullar.
Each athlete competed on an 18-hole course, which was played four times over four days in Paris in 2024. In both events, the top three with the fewest strokes won gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively. There were 60 men and 60 women who played in the Paris golf competition. Let us now take a look at how India performed in Golf at Paris 2024.
Men’s Event
Shubhankar Sharma and Gaganjeet Bhullar were the two male golfers representing India in the individual event of the sport. Both the Indians were making their Olympic debuts in Paris 2024. India achieved their best-ever men's finish at the Olympics thanks to Sharma, a former Asia No. 1 player.
Anirban Lahiri's T42 finish in the men's golf at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was India's best finish to date. On the first day of the competition, Gaganjeet Bhullar was ranked T56 with a score of 4-over 75. However, the next day, he improved four spots to be ranked T52 with a score of 2-over 144.
On the other hand, Sharma started well with a T29 on the first day and improved his own rankings by four spots the following day to finish the second day placing 25th with a 3-under 139 total.
Bhullar kept on jumping places over the next two days of the event but the rise was too gradual and could not lead him to a place he would have liked to finish. In the end, he finished at T45 with a score of 1-over 285, a jump of 11 places from where he finished day one.
Sharma had started strongly and the hopes were high but after day two, he went on a decline. Ultimately, he finished at T40 with a score of 1-under 283 and the men’s event for India came to an end.
Women’s Event
Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar of India concluded the women's competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics with respective finishes of T29 and T49. India didn't win a medal at the Paris 2024 golf tournament.
The top female golfer in India, Aditi Ashok, was ranked T14 following the second round. After the third round, she dropped 26 spots to T40, but on the last day, she shot 4-under 68 to climb up 11 spots to a final total of 2-over 290. Aditi was truly the nation’s hope in the sport as she had been the closest it got to the medal tally in the tournament's previous edition.
Diksha Dagar, meanwhile, had yet another difficult day, finishing at T49 after dropping seven spots with a 6-over 78. The 2021 Deaflympic winner started the competition ranked T7 but fell further back with each subsequent round. 13 points over 301 was her final score.
The two female Indian golfers competed for Team India at Tokyo 2020. Diksha placed T50 in the event three years prior, while Aditi Ashok achieved India's highest finish of fourth.