  
 
  HISTORY OF THE TOURNAMENT INTRODUCTION The SAARC Golf Championship is the region's premier annual international amateur team event conceived to promote harmony and co-operation through sports in the SAARC region and invites the participation of national amateur golf teams of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is held under the aegis of the official golf unions of the participating SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co operation) Countries. The championship includes a corporate golf day titled the "SAARC Friendship Trophy" and involves the participation of VIPs, senior corporate executives and Government heads who play alongside the national amateur teams. This event tees off on the first day before the main championship commences, or on the final day. This gives the players a second practice round and the invitees to play with the SAARC Teams and their respective Captains / Managers. 1st SAARC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP The first edition of the championship was held in India from 7th to 10th January 1999 at the KGA Classic Golf Course, Bangalore. The Chief Guest at the Prize Distribution Ceremony was Mr. R.K. Hegde, the then Union Minister for Commerce, Govt. of India. 2nd SAARC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP The second edition of the championship was held in the Bangladesh Capital Dhaka, at the Kurmitola Golf Club from January 20th - 22nd, 2000. Senior Administrators, Diplomats, and Ministers were involved in the organisation and ceremonial aspects of the event. As in the 1st Championship, India won this edition also. 3rd SAARC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP The 3rd SAARC Golf Championship was held in New Delhi from 1st to 4th February 2001 at the Delhi Golf Club. The Chief Guest at the inaugural tee-off was Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, President, Indian Olympic Association while Mr. Vijai Kapur, Lt. Governor of Delhi, teed off the Friendship Trophy. India won this Championship as well with Sri Lanka as the Runners-up. 4th SAARC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP The 4th SAARC Golf Championship was held in India from 27th to 30th March 2002. The tournament was held at the Classic Golf Resort, Gurgaon, a Jack Nicklaus Signature course. This tournament too was won by India beating first-time finalists Bangladesh 3 - 0. 5th SAARC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP The 5th SAARC Golf Championship was held at the Delhi Golf Club, New Delhi from 17th to 20th April 2003. India won the tournament beating Sri Lanka 3-0. The Chief Guest at the Friendship Trophy was Mr. Digvijay Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs while Mr. Vikram Verma, Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs gave away the prizes. 6th SAARC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP The 6th edition of the Championship was held in 2004. The dates were from 29th July to 1st August 2004 and the venue was the Royal Palms Golf Club, Lahore, Pakistan. This year a new feature was introduced for this event. Along with the normal team of 3 players and a manager, a two-member ladies team was invited from each country as well. The ladies teams played separately in the same format as that of the men. India and Pakistan played the final and Pakistan beat India by 2.5 points in the men's event. The ladies Champion was Sri Lanka. 7th SAARC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP The 7th SAARC Golf Championship was held at Victoria Golf and Country Resorts, Kandy, Sri-Lanka from 05th to 08th May 2005. India won the tournament. 8th SAARC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP The 8th SAARC Golf Championship was held from 20th to 22nd December at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course, due to support from Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera of Gymkhana, Col.Zulfiqar Rana of Punjab Golf and Chit Ranjan Bakshi of SAARC golf secretariat. And the final glorious moment of victory conclusively swayed Bangladesh's way; yes, the final battle between Sri Lanka, the favorites and Bangladesh turned into a thriller and at the end of 18th holes Bangladesh were level with Sri Lanka. The final day was a singles match play event, and K. Prabagran beat Milon Ahmed (Bangladesh) winning one point; in the second singles M. Siddikur Rehman (Bangladesh) beat T. Chandradasa and this way neutralized the edge gained by Sri Lanka.In the final singles the match between Mithun Perera (Sri Lanka) and Shahid ended up level and each side got half a point each. Team wise both team had an aggregate of 1 points each, as per rules the one nominated players of Bangladesh faced the nominee of Sri Lanka, in a sudden death play off, to decide the issue. M. Siddikur Rehman of Bangladesh was pitched against Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka. The first two holes were level but on the third M. Siddikur Rehman rolled in a birdie to clinch the title, thereby bringing honors to his country. It was a great victory for Bangladesh whose golf players have shown courage and consistency in application of golfing skills during the three days event. In the contest between the remaining thr ee teams, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bhutan, Pakistan won what is called the Loser's plate, which actually goes to the winner from amongst these three teams. Academically speaking, Pakistan ended up third in the championship. It has been a great event made possible by the presence of over seas teams from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the host team Pakistan. Whereas all the National players of these teams were eager to put in their best, in the end those who achieved excellence are players from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The high achievers in Bangladesh team were M.Saddiqur Rehman and M.Milon and in the Sri Lankan team the top performers were Mithun Parera and K.Prabagran. That Pakistani players could not show excellence in this event of champions leaves behind a fair amount of sadness in the hearts of those who want to see our golf develop on the International front. The prize distribution is lined up for the evening at 7:30 P.M. and the chief guest of the evening is Salman Saddique, Chief Secretary Govt. of Punjab. 9th SAARC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP The Surya Nepal 9th SAARC Golf Championship was held in Katmandu, from 01st Nov to 03rd Nov at Le Meridien Gokarna Forest Golf Resort. Sri Lanka defeated Nepal 2.5-0.5 in the final of the Surya Nepal Ninth SAARC Golf Championship organised by Nepal Golf Association Played under match play format, Sri Lanka won two matches and halved one to accumulate 2.5 points while Nepal got 0.5 point. Tisa Chandradasha of Sri Lanka, who was up against Nepal's Tashi Ghale, won the match easily after 12 holes. Chandradasha made seven birdies and won eight holes on the front nine before losing a hole for Tashi's birdie on the 11th, then 12 was halved and Chandradasha got a comfortable win. The match between Rupak Acharya and K Prabagaran was exciting as the Sri Lankan won the first hole with a birdie and Rupak matched with a birdie on the fifth. Rupak lost the sixth and won eighth and ninth holes, going one up in the front nine. Rupak extended his lead by winning the 11th with a birdie, and then lost 12th, 13th and 15th to go one-hole down. He then made a birdie on the 17th to square the match and the last hole was halved with both the players sharing one point each. In the match between Mithun Perera and Rabi Khadka, Perera won the first hole with a par then made a birdie to win the fifth and again won the seventh with a par before losing the eighth to Khadka's par. Perera made a birdie on the ninth to go three up in the front nine. In the back nine, Khadka birdied the 10th and Perera charged back with birdie on the next hole. Perera won the 12th, while Khadka reduced the deficit in the next hole. Khadka won the 14th and 15th holes bring the match to just one-hole difference but lost the 17th hole and the match. Bangladesh, with an aggregate score of 1 under par, won the Losers' plate. The ladies championship was won by India. Suweta Galande and Nalini Singh brought in a score of 314(+26). The runner-up was Sri Lanka with a score of 350(+62). Nalini Singh Also had the best round of 74(+2) on the first day. One day one, there was a hole-in-one scored by Mr Shakhawat Hossain Sohail on hole no 16. |