Eight Sabah junior golfers in Genting Challenge
KOTA KINABALU: Eight Sabah junior golfers - four boys and four girls - will team up with their Sarawak counterparts to represent Team Borneo in the inaugural Genting Challenge Junior Golf Match Play 2019.
The tournament, which will pit Team Borneo against Peninsular Malaysia, will be played at the Awana Genting Highlands Golf & Country Resorts from April 2-3.
The Borneo and Peninsular squad will be represented by eight boys and eight girls below the age of 19 per team.
Sabah have named Derrick Kong, Maxwin Chew, Sharie Tambakau and Eldrick Chong for boys and Chew I Youn, Charlayne Chong, Valerie Langkap and Nabila Alifudin for girls.
Coach Ronnie Pancratius will accompany the golfers to the tournament.
The tournament will be the first of its kind for junior golf in Malaysia and will be similar to the famed Ryder Cup, with the players playing Fourball, Foursome and Singles over two days of competition.
“Apart from the keen contest that is expected from both teams, the competition is not only a test of golfing skills but is also to foster goodwill and better relationships among the players, parents and officials,” said SportExcel executive director C. Sivanandan in a statement issued to the press yesterday.
According to him, SportExcel has contributed immensely to junior golf over the last 28 years and is committed to having more innovative programmes in the future for the continous development of junior golf.
For 2019, SportExcel will organise a total of 15 junior golf tournaments, where 13 are at national level and another two international events.
Meanwhile, Genting Malaysia Berhad has come forward to boost junior golf in Malaysia, in this case the Match Play tournament, as sponsors. The total amount is RM50,000.
“Golf is a great sport. We are happy to do our part in promoting junior golf as well as fostering goodwill among the juniors from Borneo and Peninsular,” Dato Sri Kay, vice president of Genting Malaysia Berhad, was quoted in same statement.