KARACHI: After a lapse of eleven years, International Asian Tour Golf returns to Karachi. Addressing a press conference at Karachi Golf Club here Wednesday, Cho Minn Thant, chief operating officer of the Asia Tour Golf, said that the UMA-Chief of Naval Staff Asia Tour Golf Championship would get underway at the fabulous Karachi Club Golf Course from Thursday (today). “The championship will be contested over four days with the final round to be played on Sunday (14th October),” he added. Also present on the occasion were Rear Admiral Adnan Khaliq, Commodore Mushtaq Ahmed, Bilal Rafi Munir, Abdullah Haroon and Shoaib Shams along with a few other corporate entities. Cho Minh stated that this was a landmark event for the Asian Tour and Pakistan with 71 players from overseas and 28 top professional golf champions of Pakistan. The overseas players are from South Africa, England, USA, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Venenzuela, Malaysia, China, Bangladesh and India. The prize money on offer is $300,000 “I hope that the Pakistan golf professionals will also be able to make their mark in this grand event.” Cho Minh added that the hospitality in Pakistan had been outstanding and helped to stamp out and bump off any apprehension that some overseas players expressed before touching the land of Pakistan. He was hopeful that Karachi would prove to be a life blood of the Asian Tour and the event would make it possible to popularise golf in the region. As regards the foreign participation, while all foreign golfers look in perfect trim and oozing with golfing expertise, there are some who are golfing brands with lot of titles to their credit. Some such names are Siddikur Rehman (Bangladesh), Marcus Both (Australia), Niali Turner (Ireland), Wolmer Murillo (Venezuela) and LIU Yanwei (China). And the ones from India who are likely to show their command and golfing control are Gaurav Pratap Singh, Deepinder Singh Kullar, Amandeep Singh Johl and the mighty Digvijay Singh. From amongst the Pakistanis, Shabbir Iqbal stands out and so does Mohammad Matloob. They are both in excellent form and battle hardened in terms of mental toughness. Others who seem determined to put up an impressive presence are Shahid Javed Khan, Muammad Munir, M Ashfaq and Hamza Amin. A few amateurs also get an opportunity to demonstrate their skills and Ahmed Baig is one and Taimur Khan another. Much is expected from these talented sons of the soil. The Karachi Golf Course looks amazing and the greens will carry the required speed. Published in Daily Times, October 11th 2018.