adminTobias Mandoreba Hwange Correspondent
THE Hwange Golf Open tournament, which was supposed to start tomorrow in the coal mining town, has been postponed indefinitely.
Around 150 professional and amateur golfers from within the country and beyond the borders were expected to participate in the tournament which is one of the most prestigious tournaments on Zimbabwe’s golf calendar.
The postponement was announced by the Hwange Golf Club chairman Victor Rakabopa in a statement sent out to golfers, the club committee and the Colliery management.
“We regret to advise that we are having to postpone the Hwange Open 2013 tournament to a later date to be advised due to circumstances beyond our control. The organising committee felt that the environment would not be conducive to host such an important and national tournament under the prevailing circumstances.
“As Hwange Golf Club, we take pride in hosting this event and will advise on the revised date after consultations with MGA, ZGA, Zambezi Tours and other stakeholders. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and the somewhat short notice. The revised dates will be advised in due course,” said Rakabopa.
On the issue of sponsorship, Rakabopa urged all the individuals and companies who had lined up various packages as prizes to hold on as the tournament would certainly be held later in the year.
“We have a number of individuals and companies who had made commitments to chip in with prizes for the tournament, I urge them to hold on as the event will be held at a later date as alluded to earlier.
This year it’s more exciting as we have our traditional sponsor Chaferfly Enterprises and a host of other companies coming in to make the Hwange Open bigger and better,” he said.
The Pro-Am tournament was supposed to be held tomorrow, with Friday to Sunday set for the main competition under the individuals’ medal format.
Last year’s winner Brian Gondo, Nyasha Muyambo, Ignatious Mketeteke and Tongo Charamba are some of the household names in the sport who were likely to take part in this year’s edition.
From the local stable under the men’s category, the likes of the 2012 Hwange Open amateur champion Stephen Simukai, Christian Lungu, Vumbu Ncube, Milton Magidi, Victor Suerga, Joseph Shoko, Cephas Ncube, Amos Lungu, Edwin Moyo and Mubita Njamba, were expected to battle it out for honours.
From the women’s category, the 2013 Hwange Closed champion Viola Musengi, Matron Mguni, Acy Zerf, Colleen Rakabopa, Shelly Gwanonga, Colleta Mhonda, Getrude Katsidzira and Patience Utete were expected to be part of the quality field.
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