July 15, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 11, 1429

KARACHI, July 14: The Sindh Open Golf Championship, offering an enhanced prize purse of Rs 650,000, will be held at the Arabian Sea Country Club (ASCC) from July 16-18, secretary Sindh Golf Association, Asad I A Khan announced at a press briefing here on Monday.

Flanked by Chief Executive ASCC Arif Ali Khan Abbasi and tournament coordinator Dr Tariq Raz, Asad said the three-day 54-hole Championship will see as many as 90 leading professional and amateur golfers participating in it besides the seniors.

He disclosed that in order to further promote the game of golf in the country, a special prize purse will be awarded to the winner of the tournament which will enable him to compete in an Asian Tour event abroad.

Asad said that ASCC is being considered a fantastic yet difficult golf course because of strong windy conditions and the Sindh Open will be a good test of the golfers’ professional skills.The SGA secretary added that the provincial association will be putting in around rupees 800,000 to one million for hosting the prestigious event while the sponsors will be contributing half a million rupees in prizemoney and other arrangements.

Seasoned sports official and former caretaker minister Arif Abbasi, speaking on the occasion, demanded of Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF) to allocate the prestigious Pakistan Open to the ASCC, the country’s premier golfing club. “We have world class facilities to stage these kinds of golfing events at ASCC,” he said. “With top class facilities at our disposal we deserve to stage an event of this magnitude.”

Elaborating on the recent expansion of sports facilities at the picturesque ASCC, Abbasi said: “The ASCC has got a high class squash court, a swimming pool, cricket ground, shooting range besides accommodation facilites that make us the best venue in the metropolis.” Shabbir Iqbal, who won back to back events with Chief of Naval Staff in Karachi and Bolan Open in Quetta, is the favourite to win the championship alongwith defending champion Amjad Yousuf. Other prominent golfers set to compete in the Sindh Open include Muhammad Munir, Matloob Ahmed, Imdad Hussain, Shahid Javed Khan, Muhammad Siddique, Muhammad Akram and Aurangzeb Khan.