UAE Junior Team outperforms many at the GCC Championship in Dubai
The GCC Golf Championship is warming up at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club as the players are now heading into the final round of the championship, scheduled on Wednesday, March 7.
The UAE junior team, Faisal Al Marzouqi and debutants Ahmed Skaik and Abdulla Al Qubaisi, have now surged in contention and are currently poised at joint third and will be hoping to soar to the top of the event in the final 18-hole stretch.
Chris Vallender, the UAE coach, said, "They have done very, very well, the other juniors will now see they have something to work towards and it is very good for the UAE”.
The Junior Team finished 22 shots behind the leaders Saudi Arabia who scored an aggregate of 290 while Bahrain was trailing with an aggregate score of 304.
Skaik and Al Qubaisi are two of the sturdy players who have managed to make their way to the championship through their better performance in the Junior Programme.
Saeed Albudoor, the general manager of the Emirates Golf Federation, was also present on the occasion and hoped that the Junior Programme will yield some more talented players in the course of time.
He said, "The junior team's performance in the GCC Championship will be a good advertisement for the programme, which we started in 2010 with the aim of increasing popularity of the game among the young Emiratis”.
UAE men's team of Ahmed Al Musharrekh, Khalid Yousuf, Saeed Malik and Sohail Al Marzouqi are currently leading the UAE entourage and pulled in an aggregate of 221 to stay in contention.
The championship is one of the many golf events scheduled in the sprawling Emirates courses this year where the rich elite of the country are trying to make the city a prime destination of the sport.
The Junior Programme is also part of the long-term strategy to increase the interest of the local populace as well as attract the foreign Diaspora.
Dubai in particular and Middle East in general have become one of the most lucrative destinations for the European Tour.
The tour calendar has several high profile events scheduled in the city including the season-ending Race to Dubai Championship which marks the zenith of the tour’s 45 or some events.
Tags: