By Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi, 26 August: Former cricket captain Kapil Dev on Thursday lavished praise on young golfer Aditi Ashok for her sterling performance in the Tokyo Olympics, saying that it has given sport in the country a big boost.
“Aditi’s fourth-place finish and her superb showing in all the four rounds at the Games was a big advertisement for Indian Golf and I hope she will continue performing consistently well,” Kapil said
“I want to urge more Corporates to join the bandwagon. There is tremendous potential in the game as has been seen at the Olympics with the fabulous performance of Aditi Ashok. If we come forward and support our golf players they can easily become world champions and medal winners.”
He also urged the union government to make import of sports equipment duty-free as most of the athletes find it difficult to buy expensive equipment “Exempting sports items from import duty will go in a long way to help the athletes particularly Golfers in the country “
Kapil was talking to media persons at the unveiling of schedule of Ten events to be conducted by the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) in next four months carrying Rs 6.60 crore as prize money.
The schedule also heralds the return of professional golf to the Kashmir Valley after seven years .” The valley has one of the finest world-class golf courses and I am excited to play there once again” Kapil, who is also a PGTI board member, added
Ten events are scheduled to be played between September to December 2021. The combined 2020-2021 season has so far witnessed 10 tournaments. Seven of these 10 events were staged between November 2020 and March 2021, after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The PGTI formulated and followed strict regulations and guidelines to ensure a safe and healthy environment during tournaments which contributed to the successful staging of the seven events held after the outbreak of the pandemic.
PGTI CEO Uttam Mundy informed the media that it has been planned to restart the tour in September. “The PGTI will continue to follow strict regulations in order to take all precautions against Covid-19 and ensure the smooth functioning of tournaments. We thank PGTI members, our sponsors, tour partners, and the host venues of the forthcoming events for their support and cooperation.
“We’re also proud to announce the beginning of our association with global brand ‘American Express’ as well as leading Indian health care company ‘Amrutanjan Health Care Limited’, both over a century old brands, like our Tour Partners. Both these partnerships are a major boost to PGTI’s efforts in getting the tour back on track in these testing times.” he said
These two new associations will help us further raise the profile of PGTI and Indian men’s professional golf. The PGTI is also currently in talks for signing a Banking Partner and Insurance Partner in the days ahead.
The PGTI season resumes with the Golconda Masters Telangana Open Presented by Vooty & Haldi which will be played at the Hyderabad Golf Club from September 2 – 5. The prize purse for the seventh edition of the event is Rs. 40 lakh.
The following week is the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2021 Presented by Haryana Govt & Panchkula Golf Club to be played at the Panchkula Golf Club from September 8 – 11. The prize purse for the event is Rs. 50 lakh.
The inaugural J&K Open 2021 Presented by J&K Tourism will be launched in the month of September. The tournament will be staged at the Royal Springs Golf Course in Srinagar from September 15 – 18.
The event offers a prize purse of Rs. 40 lakh and marks the return of men’s professional golf to the Kashmir Valley after seven years. The PGTI staged its last two events in the region in Pahalgam and Srinagar in July 2014.
October will see the launch of yet another new event with the inaugural TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship from October 5 – 8 at Delhi Golf Club. The prize purse for the event is Rs. 50 lakh. The PGTI will be staging a full-field event (not co-sanctioned by Asian Tour) at the Delhi Golf Club after seven years.
The fourth edition of the Rs 40-lakh prize money Jaipur Open will be held at the Rambagh Golf Club in Jaipur from October 12 – 15.
The Rs 60-lakh prize money IndianOil Servo Masters Golf will be staged in the week between October 25 – 31 at the Digboi Golf Links in Digboi, Assam.
The fourth edition of the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational Presented by TAKE will be held at the Chandigarh Golf Club from November 11 – 14. The event boasts a prize purse of Rs. 1.5 crore.
The ICC-RCGC Open Golf Championship returns for its second edition at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata from November 25 – 28. The prize purse for the event is Rs. 40 lakh.
The Rs 40-lakh Pune Open Golf Championship will be staged at the Poona Club Golf Course from December 1 – 4.
The season-ending TATA Steel Tour Championship carrying an impressive prize purse of Rs. 1.5 crore will be held at the Golmuri & Beldih Golf Courses in Jamshedpur from December 16 – 19.
