adminTakudzwa Chitsiga Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Special Olympics golf team finished a credible second at the Special Olympics Golf Masters invitational tournament in Macau at the weekend.
The three-member team returned home yesterday after spending a week taking part in the annual event, which recorded its highest turnout, in terms of athletes, this year.
The Special Olympics athletes participated in Level One, Two or Level Five with Level One and Two being for beginners and Level Five is for the expert golfers.
Level One and Two is to groom Special Olympics teams from the Asia Pacific Region and competing against each other in their basic golf skills.
Two players per flight play rounds of nine holes and, of course, with a coach and their guardian player.
The trio of Munyaradzi Musariri, Viren Metha and John Donking arrived in the country with their medals after they came second to India in the event that had scores of players from 11 other participating countries and 16 teams.
Zimbabwe were debutants at the event that has been running from 2012 when it started with eight teams but they gave a good account of themselves.
The duo of Mehta and Donking took part in Level Two where they raised the flag high while Musariri took part in Level Five, the 18-hole event, where he finished in eighth position.
The head of delegation, Viola Musariri, said they were happy with how the golfers fared at the tourney.
“The boys learnt a lot of things as the idea was to show them how to play competitive golf. They did us proud as they managed to beat some seasoned Asian countries who took part in the event,” said Musariri.
“The idea was to have people playing golf, and enjoying, which we did.
“The participation was also good for the boys as they learnt a lot in terms of confidence building. It is an experience which the Zimbabwe Special Olympics committee cherishes and we look forward to the event next year.
“We look forward to take more players in our next visit to Macau.”
Online Reporter