Zim golfers off to Malawi

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD Tanaka Chatora has been included in the four-member team that will represent Zimbabwe at the 2023 edition of the Africa Region 5 Amateur Golf Challenge in Lilongwe, Malawi.

The eight nations’ tournament starts today and ends on Saturday, May 20.
Tomorrow, the golfers will have a feel of the course, with real competition starting on Thursday.
The upcoming golfer who is on a golf scholarship at Heritage in Harare and his teammates Panashe Mukumba (24), Tariro November (19) and Michael Wallace (18) left the country for Malawi yesterday.

Vice-president of the Zimbabwe Golf Association Munodawafa Mutopo is the head of delegation.
Countries participating at the annual tournament are the hosts Malawi, Mozambique, defending champions South Africa, Namibia, eSwatini, Zimbabwe and Angola. Each country is being represented by four golfers.

At last year’s competition held in Angola, Zimbabwe finished second and will be hoping to wrestle the title from South Africa.

Zimbabwe Golf Association’s president Martin Chikwana, who travelled to Malawi in his capacity as the Africa Golf Confederation’s vice-president south, is hopeful that the youthful Zimbabwean squad will do well at the regional meet.

“This is a tournament for the Africa Golf Confederation in our region. The tournament was supposed to have been hosted by Botswana but they were unable to do so, leaving Malawi to step up and take care of us.

“The thinking behind this event is that for you to be better at golf you need to be playing. We afford our players an opportunity for growth and continuity to develop their skills. It’s an important event on the African golf calendar.

“Our Zimbabwean team is very much youthful, a good mixture of a settled junior programme as well as looking into the future. We’re hoping these youngsters will play well and hope they bring home the winners’ medal,” said Chikwana. -@ZililoR