Indian golfer Aditi Ashok carded a three-under 67 in the third round to hold on to the second position and remain in strong contention for the country's maiden Olympic medal in the sport in Tokyo on Friday.
Aditi was 12-under 201 after three rounds and is the sole golfer in second position, three strokes adrift of leader Nelly Korda of the US who carded a two-under 69 in the penultimate round.
Four players—New Zealand's Lydia Ko (66), Australia's Hannah Green (67), Demark's Kristine Pederson (70) and Japan's Mone Inami (68)—shared the third spot with totals of 10-under 203.
Aditi fired five birdies and two bogeys in the day. She was three-under after picking up shots on fourth, sixth and seventh holes before bogeys on ninth and 11th pulled her back.
However, she made amends with birdies on the 15th and 17th to keep herself in the hunt for a historic medal.
The other Indian golfer in the fray, Diksha Dagar, remained in the lower half of the leaderboard after an erratic one-over 72, her third successive over-par card of the week.
Dagar, who started from the back-nine, managed one birdie against two bogeys in her round on Friday.
This is Aditi's second Olympic appearance. She had finished tied 41st in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro edition.
The final round of golf is scheduled to start at 3am (IST) on Saturday, with Aditi Ashok expected to play around 4.48am. However, reports of an impending tropical storm means play could start earlier on Saturday and may even extend to Sunday.
