New Delhi: Six Pakistanis will be part of 14 foreign amateur golfers battling it out for the eighth Delhi NCR Cup, India`s only amateur golf tournament, starting from Tuesday at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) here.
India`s top-60 amateurs, including Gagan Verma and Satwik Jain will be vying for top honours at the Delhi NCR Cup that involves two players each from Germany, Ireland, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Sohaib S Bokhari, who is leading the Pakistani contingent, sees such tournaments as an opportunity for Pakistani golfers to rub shoulders against better opponents and help build bridges with people across the border.
"The standard of golf in India is much higher. I feel it is good from our point of view that we play better opponents in India. We will get to learn from this experience," Bokhari, who was part of the two-member team that played here last year, said.
"We have around 7000 golfers playing in 40-50 golf courses back in Pakistan. Royal Palm Golf course and Gymkhana Club are two international standard courses in Karachi. Golf is slowly becoming popular there," he said.
Bokhari had hosted a Friendship Cup golf tournament last year between Indian golfers from DGC and Pakistan golfers competing under the team label `Together We Golf`.
The Delhi State Championships will be simultaneously held along with the Delhi NCR Cup.
The Indian winner and runner-up of these two tournaments will be sent to participate in one of the National Amateur Championships of European region.
Also, the DGC will soon be hosting an inter-college golf championship in order to promote the sport amongst youth.
"We have already obtained permission from Association of Indian Universities to host the inter-college tournament. The idea is to make it an inter-university championship in order to popularise the sport," the DGC general secretary, Hardip Singh Kingra said.
PTI
First Published: Monday, February 25, 2013, 18:41