India ends 24-year wait for Asian Games golf gold

India has ended a 24-year wait for an Asian Games golf gold.

Pranavi Urs won the women’s individual title on October 3 at 15-under 265.

The previous Indian gold was Shiv Kapur’s men’s individual title at Busan 2002.

Urs won by one stroke over Singapore’s Shannon Xuan Yin Tan and China’s Yin Ruoning.

India also won women’s team silver.

A triple bogey on the par-four third hole wiped out that lead.

She recovered with a birdie on the sixth hole and signed for an even-par 70 in the final round.

She is the first Indian woman to win an Asian Games gold medal in golf.

The win ends a 24-year wait for an Asian Games golf gold for India. The previous Indian gold was Shiv Kapur’s men’s individual title at Busan 2002.

India also won silver in the women’s team event, with Urs, Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar finishing second behind China.

The course is a par 70, so four rounds add up to a par of 280, which makes a total of 265 equal to 15 under par.

The Asian Games golf competition has individual and team events, played over four rounds.

Aditi Ashok finished fourth in women’s golf at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, one of the best Olympic results by an Indian golfer.

The Asian Games 2026 are being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.

A triple bogey is a score of three shots over par on a single hole, and a birdie is a score of one shot under par.

Golf has been part of the Asian Games programme since the 1982 Games in New Delhi.

October 3 was Day 14 of the Asian Games 2026.

India’s golf medals at the Games now include the individual gold and the women’s team silver.

Urs’s final-round 70 was even par for the course, and her first three rounds had built the three-shot lead she took into the last day.

Golf putting green (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, public domain