RIYADH — Saudi Golf Committee Chairman Sheikh Khaled Abunayyan said the national team will be aiming for a top four finish in the 26th Arab Golf Championship to be held in Egypt next December. Abunayyan was speaking to Arab News after the awards ceremony last Friday of the highly successful Saudi-British International Golf Challenge at the Dirab Golf Club course here. Abunayyan said the committee, with support from the General Presidency of Youth Welfare, is really keen to mount a respectable performance in the annual pan Arab team championship.
“It’s a tall order, but we’ll do our best to achieve our objectives. We really want to make a good impression in this tournament” said Abunayyan.
Ali Balhareth, captain of the national team, said the Kingdom participated in the inaugural tournament in 1975 in Lebanon. At the time, Saudi Golf Committee was yet organized and the team competed under the aegis of Saudi All-Sports, according to Balhareth.
Bahrain, led by the region’s top players Hamad Mubarak and Nasser Yacoob, are the defending team and individual champions. This year’s tournament will be hosted by Dreamland Golf Club located just a few kilometers from the Pyramids in Cairo. It is reputedly one of the best and toughest courses in Egypt. Abunayyan said the national team will enter training camp a month before the tournament opening. A well credentialed coach from Morocco, Kamal Gartite, is also coming to whip the team up into a highly competitive unit. Gartite is a PGA professional with three Arab Championship titles under his belt.
Ever since the SGC was formed in 1999, Abunayyan has been actively involved in the promotion of golf in the country. The first Saudi National Amateur Open was held in 2000 in Dirab, which also hosted the GCC Championship in 2002.
After Lebanon next year, Saudi Arabia takes its turn to host the Arab Championship in 2007.
The AGF member-countries, in addition to Saudi Arabia, are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia and UAE.
