"I want to win a gold medal for India" - Golf sensation Avani Prashanth aims high heading into Asian Games 2023

Avani Prashanth has placed high expectations on herself heading to the 2023 Asian Games.

Avani is a part of the women’s team heading to the Asian Games set to begin in Hangzhou, China, on Saturday, September 23. She is the youngest golfer to represent India at the event.

The 16-year-old from Bengaluru made it to the Indian women's team heading to the event by topping the Indian Golf Union's selection trials held at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata in April.

Now, on the sidelines of the launch of the inaugural season of the Trinity Golf Champions League, the Bengaluru native has stated that her objective is to win gold for her country at the Asian Games.

"I want to go for the gold medal and win a gold medal for India, but I want to keep that out of my mind as much as possible. If I can play my best golf, I can beat the best in the world, so I want to focus on my ‘A’ game and trying to remove the external pressure," she said. (via PTI)

Avani, who has been training under coach Laurence Brotheridge since 2018, is looking forward to testing herself against some of the best players in the world at the quadrennial event.

"I know that World No. 1 (China’s Ruoning Yin) is coming, and it would be a good test for me and how I play among the best in the world," she added.

Avani has always had lofty expectations, with the talent to back them up. In June, she stated that she also has her eyes set on representing India at the 2024 Olympics, which is scheduled to be held in Paris, France.

"I wanted to compete at the Olympics since I was pretty young. Now that I am on the Asian Games team, the Olympics looks a lot more realistic, and I see the only way to get there is for me to turn pro and get the World rankings up. I should be able to make it if I just play the way I'm playing now," she expressed. (via Times of India)

Earlier this year, Avani became the first Indian to win on the LET Access Series, the official development tour to the Ladies European Tour. She carded a six-under 210 overall to edge out Isabell Ekstrom (Sweden) and Matilda Bjorkman (Sweden) to the title.