The Hindu : Exciting fare on the cards

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 28, 2003

Sport

Sport - Golf

Exciting fare on the cards

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE Feb. 27. The Country's oldest Amateur golf tournament, the All India Amateur Championship will be conducted at the Karnataka Golf Association course here from Feb 28th to March 9th. The tournament staged under the aegis of the Indian Golf Union which has focussed on coaching and providing international exposure to the juniors and amateurs is sure to produce some keen competition and exciting fare.

The Indian Golf Union has produced a number of excellent players. Shiv Kapur, Gold Medallist at the Asian Games at Busan, Jyothi Randhawa who reached top-seed status on the Asian PGA Tour, Arjun Atwal winner of two European titles and Jeev Milkha Singh are all products of the IGU.

The All India Championship has a long history. First played in 1892 as strokeplay event it was converted to a matchplay event in 1896. In the early 1980's the event became international and top amateurs from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland as well as Asian countries participated. This year the entries have been received from Bangladesh, Ireland, Sri Lanka as well as three teams from India.

The first two days of the tournament will be the team event. A break of two days which are practice rounds for the individuals follow and the individual tournament then will be held. The final day slated for March 9th is a gruelling day with the players playing over 36 holes to decide the winner.

Top amateurs from India like Keshav Msihra, Anitya Chand, Manav Das, Jasjeet Singh, Simarjeet Singh, H.S Kang, Jaideep Patwaradhan and Bangalore's David D'Souza will be seen in action.

The tournament is being sponsored by Eveready which has signed a sponsorship deal till 2006.

Last year's winner was Charl Schwartzel of South Africa and India's Manav Das finished runner-up. Bangalore hosts the tournament after a gap of six years. It was last played in 1997 when Harmeet Kahlon beat Amit Dubey.

The teams: Bangladesh (Manzoor Ahmed, Mohammed Siddikur Rehman, Md. Milon Ahammad), Ireland (Mark Ryan, Micheal Mcgeady), Sri Lanka (H.M. Samaranayke, B.G. Lalit Kumara, N. Amarpthama) India `A' (Keshav Mishra, Jasjeet Singh), India `B' (Simarjeet Singh, Harinder Gupta) and India C (Jaideep Patwardhan, Sandy Lehal).

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