Nomura Cup: Young guns confirmed for Abu Dhabi event

Golfers Aslam, Hussain, Taimur and Naeem will represent Pakistan

KARACHI: Pakistan will field a young four-member team in the upcoming 27th Asia Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship — Nomura Cup — to be held in Abu Dhabi from October 22 to October 25 after the Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF) formally accepted the Emirates Golf Federation’s invitation to participate in the event.

The team comprises Lahore’s Nadeem Aslam, Multan’s Ashiq Hussain and two golfers from Peshawar — Taimur Khan and Muhammad Naeem.

“The selection was based on recent performance, age and potential to perform in the future,” PGF secretary Brigadier (retd) Nayyar Afzal told The Express Tribune. 

In the last edition of the Nomura Cup, Pakistan finished in the 43rd, 47th and 69th positions out of 83 golfers. “We have had bad experiences in the past and have not been able to improve; this time we are taking a team of young golfers [aged between 21 and 25] who are expected to perform better than before,” he said.

Afzal said Pakistan had a limited talent pool in golf as compared to other nations who send even younger golfers — ages 16 to 18.

“We don’t have much talent due to which we have to send golfers who are on top in the national ranking and older than the normal age group at the event. However, the golfers we have selected this time around have showed the potential to perform well,” he said while adding that they are currently practicing at the Lahore Garrison Golf and Country Club.

So far, Australia, Bahrain, China, Chinese Taipei, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Lao, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, UAE and Pakistan have confirmed their participation.

“We are aiming to finish at least in the 13th or 14th spot among the participating nations. If we succeed in achieving our target, then it means we are improving,” concluded Afzal.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2015.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.