The 23-year-old’s historic victory, by a nervy one shot, in the Aichi-Nagoya Games underlines her rising stature

Published on: Oct 3, 2026, 19:17:47 IST

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New Delhi: Pranavi Urs comes from Mysuru, a scenic city famous, among other things, for its annual festival parade, literary figures, erstwhile royalty. Add to that list the newly minted queen of golf.

On Saturday at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, the 23-year-old won a historic women’s individual golf gold medal. The first by an Indian woman, and the first since Shiv Kapur’s men’s title at Busan in 2002.

It was a display of steel, an attribute when combined with skill execution of a high level under pressure produces champions. Pranavi ticked both those boxes at the Kasugai Country Club East course on Saturday.

The reward for coming through the wringer of a final round was a thrilling one-shot victory over China’s Yin Ruoning, the world No.6, a former world No.1 and Major winner, and a winner on the LPGA last week. Also breathing down the India’s neck was Signapore’s Shannon Tan, also an accomplished player and the halfway leader.

Pranavi tallied 15-under 265 (66, 63, 66, 70) after a rollercoaster of an even par final round. Yin took silver after a playoff win over Shannon Tan, both having tied second on 14-under par. Yin showed her class, almost adding to her three birdies on the front nine with a first on the 18th to force a gold medal playoff, only for the long birdie putt to lip out.

Pranavi’s short par putt to seal gold didn’t even seem to register on the youngster, who later said she wasn’t sure if she had won or only gone into a playoff. Still in the ‘zone’ as she merely smiled while hugging her playing partners, she could celebrate when Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar ran on to the green and poured water over Pranavi, the ritual to celebrate the winner on the tour. The trio secured the team silver as well, 14-under to China’s winning 22-under aggregate. Chinese Taipei took the bronze (-10).

The day was anything but routine. Pranavi, although leading by three shots (-15), would have been wary of the lurking Shannon (-12) and Yin (-11). Besides, Aditi Ashok had missed gold at 2023 Hangzhou after a disastrous last round 77 pushed her to silver. And to test the young Indian’s resolve, she triple-bogeyed the third hole—she dropped shots in only three holes all tournament. But staying focused—her accurate iron play and finding the green were the feature of Pranavi’s game—she birdied the 6th, 10th and 13th.

There was still one tricky shot left after finding the fairway rough on the 18th. But a measured approach shot left her with a comfortable two-putt for par and victory.

Aditi shook off her struggles in the first three rounds to car a 3-under 67 to finish T14 (2-over 282) while Diksha ended T23 after her 77 left her 12-over for the tournament.

Impressive career growth

Pranavi’s victory is likely to be a great milestone in Indian women’s golf. Having started playing the game aged 8, she was 14 when she represented India in the 2017 amateur Malaysian Open and the Asia Pacific Sirikit Cup. Uploading her statistics on Upgame app, a performance tracking and analytics platform used by players and coaches, led to selection for an international golf scholarship in the Bahamas.

Her game development has been helped by the eight-year guidance of respected Aussie golf coach Steven Guiliano. The clarity in Pranavi’s approach play and course management were superb throughout, aspects they have focused on.

Ahead of the Asian Games, Pranavi told how the last three years on the Ladies European Tour, tackling conditions and top opponents, has raised her level. And being inspired by Aditi’s near medal (she was 4th) at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

“It’s a monumental day for Indian golf, and women’s golf in particular,” said Indian pro Karandeep Kochhar, Pranavi’s fiance. “Ever since she went to the LET, she has become incredibly consistent. But for her to come out and perform as well as she did after the triple bogey and beat one of the world’s best players showed how strong she is mentally,” Kochhar, who cheered her on while playing in the IGPL, told .

“The experience of playing in every tough condition in Europe has really made the difference,” he said.

Pranavi spoke of nerves leaving her sleepless overnight and the delight of becoming the first Indian woman to win the Asian Games gold. She can now carry the confidence boost to try and win a first LET title at this month’s Hero Women’s Indian Open.

Men, team sixth

In men, India were sixth in the team event. Veer Ahlawat and Saptak Talwar were tied sixth and Yuvraj Sandhu was T24. Korea’s Kim Jooyung, a 4-time PGA Tour winner known as Tom Kim, won by three shots for the individual gold medal.

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