June 29, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 13, 1428

LAHORE, June 28: Mohsin Khan and Hamza Ali Haroon emerged as new champions in the U-21 and U-18 categories respectively at the national golf championship that concluded in Islamabad on Thursday.

Mohsin of Sindh excelled at the Islamabad golf course as he made his mark on the fairways through accurate hitting and superb putting, the glory of the championship was all his.

Though Mohsin made a poor start as he grabbed a card of 83, he improved on every coming day, posting a card of 73 on the second and then of 71 on the final day to grab the title.

In the U-21 category four other competitors who came into the final reckoning were Abrar Ahmed (Sindh, 75+78+74=227), Ayaz Gul (Sindh, 75+76 +77=228), Rafiq (Sindh, 84+74+71=229) and M. Rehman (Punjab, 78+77+75=230).

Meanwhile, Hamza claimed the U-18 crown.

He played a pleasing round of 71 on the final day to make his three-day aggregate 225 (79, 75, 71) for capturing the title, leaving behind Wamiq Shakeel with a difference of seven strokes.

The top five in the U-18 category were Hamza (Federal), Wamiq Shakeel (Punjab, 82+78+72= 232), Naeem Khan (NWFP, 82+75+75=232), Kamran (Sindh, 85+76+74=235) and Salman Jahangir (Punjab, 81+76+79=236).

The top five in each age category will now go through a formal training programme for their fine-tuning. These players will be paid a monthly scholarship of Rs5000 per month.

—Sports Correspondent