Sports News | Indian Golf Union to Host Level 3 Referees Seminar, Eyes City-based Golf League
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. The Indian Golf Union (IGU) is set to host its first-ever level 3 Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar (TARS) in April next year, marking a major milestone for the sport in the country.
New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) The Indian Golf Union (IGU) is set to host its first-ever level 3 Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar (TARS) in April next year, marking a major milestone for the sport in the country.
"We are all very excited. TARS has never happened and it is going to happen for the first time. We have got the letter saying it will happen in India," President Brijinder Singh said on Saturday.
"For TARS, normally people would need to travel to St. Andrews. It is very expensive, Rs 2-3 lakh... maybe more. Mr. Shyam Sundar, who is our TARS chairman, kept following up and persuading. R&A has the faith that India can host it. But we are yet to finalise the venue.
"We will invite people from around the neighboring places, like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand. We will try to bring them here. That will make India the hub of good golf practices. And doing TARS over here is a feather in our cap, one of our biggest achievements," said Brijinder.
There have been discussions about India hosting a city-based golf league (IGPL) in line with the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Singh said he was optimistic of hosting the event sometime next year.
"Golf leagues are usually local, like the Delhi or Noida Golf League. The idea is to mix novices with veterans through a handicapping system, offering valuable exposure. It's like putting an under-14 in the dressing room with Sachin Tendulkar," he said.
"We want the game to grow. And for that, the league essentially is going to be East-West, North-South. There will be a pool of players like in the IPL. This pool will be selected after a two-day tournament in that region.
"But we haven't sat down on the drawing board or got the dates. We have a sponsor in Bharat Golf Private Limited. So, we are sure it's going to happen. But whether it will happen in March or February, depends on how the other calendar is placed.
"Maybe the total window will have to be 2-3 months and then we have a grand final sometime just before the summer heat. I can give dates by 15th of January."
"Even if I can't do it all over India, maybe I will do a pilot project somewhere to see how it goes. We have to devise a format of 9 holes, 6 holes. I think it should be 3 teams per region. So, about 12 teams."
The Annual General Meeting of the IGU to elect the office bearers and members of the governing council for the ensuing year (2024-26) is due on December 15.
Highlighting some of the achievements during his tenure, Singh said: "When we started, prior to our term, we had spent nearly Rs 2 crore on litigations and non-compliances, fighting with private bodies. So, we took a conscious decision that we will settle all disputes and not waste time or money in trying to fight them.
"We have settled all legal issues with whatever the legal parties are, there are no legal issues at all right now. And when we took over, we had a corpus of about four and a half, five crores, that has grown to 11 crores now," he added. 7/21/2024
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)