By Our Staff Reporter
Nainital, 18 May: Addressing a curtain raiser organised at the Raj Bhavan Golf Course on Thursday, Governor Lt General Gurmit Singh (Retd) announced that the 18th Governor’s Cup Golf Tournament will be held from 19 to 21 May. As many as 125 golfers from different parts of the country would participate in this tournament.
The Governor said that the purpose of the tournament is to promote tourism in Nainital and to ensure maximum participation of women, youth and general public in the sport. He affirmed that the tourism of entire Uttarakhand including Nainital is promoted through the competition. The scenic beauty of the Raj Bhavan Golf Course is a favourite destination for golfers. Along with playing golf, players coming here from different parts of the country indirectly promote the natural beauty of Uttarakhand and the tourist places here.
He added that such events also take forward the campaign of ‘Khelo India’. Every sport is beneficial for people’s health.
Due to various challenges, the golf tournament could not be organised for the last three years. There is a lot of enthusiasm among all the participants regarding the tournament this year. He said that efforts have been made to connect school children with sports through golf.
He reminded that, recently, the Inter School Governor’s Golf Cup was also organised, in which many schools participated enthusiastically. Girls were also well represented. He expressed confidence that national and international level players from Uttarakhand would be present in the coming years.
He pointed out that the interesting aspect of this year’s golf tournament is that children as young as 6 years old and super veterans up to 75 years are becoming part of the competition, which indicates their love for golf.
On the occasion, the Governor met and encouraged two golfers Vijender Pratap Singh Tomar and Rusank Sijwali, all of 6 years old, who are participating in the tournament.
Colonel Harish Shah of Raj Bhavan Golf Club stated that this competition will last three days. A total of 125 golfers will play in various categories including Super Veteran, Veteran, General, Ladies and Junior. The Governor would tee-off on 19 May at 8:30 a.m.to inaugurate the tournament.
Ravinath Raman, Secretary to the Governor, IG, Kumaon Division, Dr Nilesh Anand Bharne, District Magistrate Dhiraj Singh Garbyal, SSP Pankaj Bhatt, Major Tarun Kumar, Amit Srivastava, Finance Controller, Dr Trupti Srivastava, Joint Director, Information, Dr Nitin Upadhyay, etc., were present on the occasion.
