Chikwana: A man on a mission

Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE Golf Association president Martin Chikwana, who was recently elected vice-president of the Africa Golf Federation (AGF)’s Southern Region, is a man on a mission. He intends to transform the sport both in Zimbabwe and on the continent in the next four years.

Chikwana described his election to the top echelons of African golf administration as a vote of confidence in Zimbabwean administrators.

“Being elected to the position of vice-president (Southern Region) is a big show of confidence in the administration of golf in Zimbabwe by our peers from the north and south of Africa,” he said.

“We are one of the best structured associations in Africa outside South Africa, Morocco and Kenya, hence the continued trust to hold top positions in the federation.”

As he begins his four-year tenure with AGF, Chikwana outlined his vision.

“One of the issues that I am going to pursue throughout Africa is that of structures.

“Golf is way underdeveloped in Africa as compared to the rest of the world. When you speak about golf and structures, you can only look towards South Africa, Morocco, Kenya and Zimbabwe, and recently Zambia has been doing quite well.”

His dream is to see golf played in the least developed parts of the continent, even by least resourced athletes. He also has a bold plan targeting primary school learners.

“Charity begins at home; hence, we have since rolled out a train-the-trainer programme, with a total of 20 individuals receiving training on the basics of coaching golf.

“My wish is to introduce such a programme to different countries during my reign so that we can be able to reach many underdeveloped parts of Africa, and, hopefully, we can get more young people to get to play.”

Chikwana believes golf will play a big role in driving economies of African countries through sports tourism.

“You look at countries like Mozambique and Angola, they have two functional golf courses; Namibia — three, Zambia — not more than five, Zimbabwe — we are sitting at 38; Kenya has 50; and South Africa has more than 1 000,” he added.

“If we grow the number of our players and develop our facilities, we develop a big industry through sports tourism in Africa, hence, that is what I am hoping to do through golf — bring a lot of tourism to countries.”