Aditi Ashok two shots behind leader aims for 2nd title in two weeks

RABAT: India's Aditi Ashok maintained her solid form as she put in another confident display with 2-under 71 at the Par-73 Royal Golf Dar Es Salam and stayed in contention for a second title in as many weeks.

With the round of 71, she moved to 6-under after two rounds of the Lalla Meryem Cup on the Ladies European Tour.

Aditi, who won the Magical Kenya Ladies Open last week by nine shots, shot a 4-under round on the first day. She is now two shots behind Maja Stark, who carded a second-round 6-under 67 to move to 8-under.

While Aditi confidently moved into the final round, India's other star, Diksha Dagar missed the cut after rounds of 81-77.

Aditi, 24, had four birdies against two bogeys on day two and is aiming for two wins in a row.

''I am a confident player. When you win a tournament you feel like your game is there and even though I didn't have any practice rounds, I do feel like my game is pretty good this week and I will just continue to play my game,'' Aditi said.

''It's nice to be up there after a couple of days but I think this field is pretty strong so I'm sure it's not going to be easy.

''I guess it's different from what I experienced last week because I was leading by a lot last week but it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. I'm just trying to play the golf course the best I can.''

Aditi was playing in the company of defending champion Nuria Iturrioz, who won the event when it was last held in 2019. Aditi birdied the par-5 for the second time in as many days but dropped shots on fourth and sixth.

She quickly made up with back-to-birdies on seventh and eighth and turned in 1-under 36. On the back nine she was steady with one birdie on 14th and parred the others for a card of 71.

Stark, followed up her first round of 2-under 71 with a superb 6-under 67. She is chasing her first win of the year following her three LET wins and her first LPGA Tour win at the 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational last year.

Thursday's leader Linnea Ström slipped down the leader board to third place on -4 after shooting a second round of 75 (+2) Swedish players are dominating the leader board with four-time LET winner Linn Grant heading into the final round in fourth spot Four players sit in a tie for fifth on two-under par. They are Spain's Ana Pelaez Trivino, Italy's Alessandra Fanali, Czechia's Jana Melichova, and Switzerland's Albane Valenzuela.

The cut fell at 8-over with 67 players making it through to the weekend.

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