Bangabandhu Cup Set to Become Richest Golf Event in Bangladesh

Dhaka, Feb 7 (PTI) The Bangabandhu Cup, which will be staged from March 25 to 28, is poised to become the richest professional golf event in Bangladesh with the total prize purse for the full-field Asian Tour event set to increase to USD 400,000.

The sixth edition of the popular event will continue to be played at the highly acclaimed Kurmitola Golf Club, which is also the home course of its honorary member, Siddikur Rahman, the country's first champion in Asia.

Siddikur is the first player from Bangladesh to win on the Asian Tour when he emerged victorious at the Brunei Open in 2010.

He also became the first sportsman from his country to qualify for the 2016 Olympics on merit and was accorded the honour of becoming Bangladesh's flagbearer during the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.

The inaugural edition of Bangladesh's National Open was established in 2015 with the aim of providing the catalyst for further expansion for golf in Bangladesh following the exploits of Siddikur.

It had offered the region's finest players an initial prize fund of USD 300,000 then and has been the springboard to success for many of its champions- Singapore's Mardan Mamat (2015), Thailand's Thitiphun Chuayprakong (2016) and Jazz Janewattananond (2017), Malcolm Kokocinski of Sweden (2018), Sadom Kaewkanjana of Thailand (2019).

Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner and CEO, Asian Tour said: "2020 will be our sixth consecutive year playing in Bangladesh and we are delighted that the prize purse has been elevated to record level.

"As the richest sporting event in Bangladesh, I'm confident the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open 2020 will continue to provide unveil more hidden talents in the region while promoting the sport in Bangladesh." PTI

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