Asian Games 2026: India have added second gold medal of October 3, Saturday and clinched their 18th in Asian Games 2026 as Pranavi Sharath Urs became the latest from the country to bag the highest honour.
Pranavi became the first-ever woman Asian Games Golf champion as she clinched gold on Saturday, thereby bringing glory to the nation. It’s certainly worth exploring her journey from her early career to becoming Asian Games champion.
Asian Games 2026: Who is Pranavi Sharath Urs?
Born on April 15, 2003 in Mysore, Karnataka, Pranavi Sharth took up golf and started to look it up as a career at a very early stage, training under Vijay Divecha. While success at the Asian Games arguably remains her biggest achievement, she also won the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour in 2020 and came third at the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open De España on the Ladies European Tour (LET) two years ago.
The 23-year-old from Mysuru held her nerve in a tightly contested final round to finish with a total of 15-under 265, edging China’s Yin Ruoning and Singapore’s Shannon Tan by one stroke, according to ESPN. Pranavi entered the final round with a three-shot overnight lead but faced an early setback after a triple bogey on the third hole. She responded with three birdies and recovered her composure to stay in contention for the gold.
With the pressure mounting on the final two holes, Pranavi produced crucial par putts before finishing the 18th hole with another par to remain at 15-under. Yin and Tan also finished on 14-under, leaving the Indian on top of the leaderboard. The gold is India’s first women’s individual golf gold at the Asian Games and the country’s first golf gold at the Games since Shiv Kapur’s men’s individual triumph in 2002.
Asian Games 2026: Pranavi Sharath Urs adds silver in team effort
Additionally, the Karnataka-born athlete played a crucial role in the women’s team clinching silver, with Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar also part of the side. The sub-continent nation finished the team event at 14-under 546, headlined by two best scores from three golfers. Aditi shot a 67 in the final round, while Diksha’s tally was 77 as India secured silver medal behind China.
Earlier in the day, 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod earned gold in the women’s individual recurve archery event after beating South Korea’s Oh Yejin.