ISME, NGA to promote junior golf

Kathmandu, June 11

Nepal Golf Association and International Society for Medical Education have reached the agreement for the CMS Junior Golf Development Programme from this month.

NGA President Tashi Ghale and ISME Managing Director Nagender K Pampati signed the memorandum of understanding amidst a programme here today. As per the agreement, the NGA will organise weekly training for youth golfers from 10-16yrs in Dharan, Pokhara and Kathmandu for 43 weeks apart from organising 10 tournaments and grand finale.

“I always wanted to promote and develop junior golf in Nepal but due to some reasons it had not been possible. I am happy and thankful for providing me with this opportunity of developing junior golf in the country,” said Pampati. “I hope the outcome of the programme will be good and that will ultimately help in the overall development of the sport.”

Pampati said he was hoping a couple of players going to international platform through this project. “I want to see one or two players from Nepal going into the international stage and excel there through this programme,” said Pampati, the sponsor of the CMS Open Golf Tournament. “It was the CMS Open that revived golf in Nepal at a time when the sport was on the verge of dying.” Pampati also said he was ready to help the NGA on a long-term basis. “There is no limitation of budget from my side for development of junior golf in Nepal. It all depends on how you prepare and run the programme.”

According to Youth Development Director Deepak Acharya, the NGA will organise training camps at the three venues every week and pick top 10 to 15 players after organising the regional tournaments. “We will organise three tournaments each in Dharan and Pokhara and four in Kathmandu. The best players from all the three centres will participate in the final tournament in Kathmandu,” he said.

Acharya said apart from providing training to the players and organising tournaments for them, the NGA also had the plans to send the best players for foreign training. The coaches appointed by the NGA will conduct weekly training at their respective centres and the association will oversee all the activities. “We have come up with an ambitious programme and we are hopeful of producing future champions from this project. We are not hoping for any miracle overnight but we are confident that we will have champion golfers in three to five years time.”

NGA President Tashi Ghale said the programme would be helpful in building national team as well. “Currently there are only three-four players in the national team. Now we will have the privilege of taking national team members from this programme,” said Ghale. “If we conduct this programme properly and put in a little more effort we can be the gold medal contender in the upcoming South Asian Games in Nepal.”

NGA General Secretary CB Bhandari said the association would not leave any stone unturned to make it a grand success. “We are grateful to ISME and its MD Pampati for supporting in the ambitious project of the NGA. We assure you that this programme will be helpful in producing players Nepal is looking for a long time,” he added.