Aditi Ashok’s wry smile after her tap-in to complete her fourth round at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan’s Saitama said it all.

The smile couldn’t hide the disappointment of missing out on an Olympic medal.

Overnight second on the leaderboard, Aditi carded three-under 68 for a total of 15-under 269 but that was not enough. Both Mone Inami of Japan and Lydia Ko of New Zealand shot six-under on the last day to pip Aditi at the post. Inami won the silver in the play-off.

The Indian football team in Melbourne (1956), Milkha Singh in Rome (1960), PT Usha in Los Angeles (1984), Joydeep Karmakar in London (2012), Dipa Karmakar in Rio (2016), the women’s hockey team on Friday, Aditi a day later. The gnawing pain of finishing fourth on the biggest stage just refuses to ebb.

Aditi, a Bangalore girl, said finishing fourth “kind of sucks”.

“I didn’t know that I have joined the list of Indian athletes who missed out on an Olympic medal. Obviously you don’t want to join that club. But yeah, I guess I’ve joined it. I think I gave it my 100 per cent, but, yeah, fourth at an Olympics where they give just three medals, kind of sucks. In any other tournament I would be really happy, but it’s hard to be happy with a fourth place in Olympics. I played well and gave it my 100 per cent,” Aditi, who fell short by a stroke, was quoted as saying by the International Golf Federation.

Joydeep Karmakar, who narrowly missed out on a podium finish, said he understands what Aditi is going through.

“Obviously it sucks. The difference between an Olympian and an Olympic medal winner. I could feel for Aditi when she smiled after the tap-in. I have been through this and I know what was going on in her mind,” Karmakar told The Telegraph on Saturday. Nine years ago at the London Olympics, he missed the bronze by a whisker in the 50m rifle prone.

“When I saw Vijay Kumar on the podium wearing the silver medal I just broke down. Just couldn’t control myself as realisation dawned upon me on what I had missed,” Karmakar said. “It’s a devastating feeling. It’s stark and dark. And when you see the financial benefits an Olympic medal winner gets in our country it becomes more depressing.”

Aditi was unlucky as her putts missed the cup on the 17th and 18th holes. A birdie in one of the two holes would have taken her to the play-off round with Japanese and the Kiwi. “Maybe I made too many through the four rounds, golfing gods were like, okay, we’re not going to give her this one,” the 23-year-old said. “I just tried my best, even the last hole, although it was really out of range, it was almost a long putt, but I still tried. So yeah, I think I gave it my best shot.”

Never mind, Aditi. Paris is just three years away.