LAHORE      -      Adina Ataullah emerged as winner of the ruby category in the 2nd PGA Junior Girls Match held on Saturday here at the picturesque PAF Skyview Golf and Country Club under the overall supervision of Dr Asma Afzal Shami, Chairperson Ladies Golf in Pakistan.

Aanya Fareed was winner of Emerald category, Zoha Zeeshan winner of Pearl category and Aliha Amjad winner of subsidiary category while Adina Ataullah was also declared as the best golfer of the match. Incidentally, special prizes were awarded to Mr Waseem as super dad for the longest drive while the super mom for best putting was Mrs Huma Shahid.

Begum Parveen Sarwar, wife of Governor Punjab, was the chief guest and distributed the prizes amongst the winners. In reply to being thanked for sparing the time to be the chief guest, she graciously stated: “What could be more important than an event that is designed to benefit a future aspect of Pakistan.”

Dr Shami was very ably assisted by Match Director Mrs Iffat Zahra, the Lady Golf Captain, Mrs Shahnaz Moeen and Mistress of Ceremonies Ms Adia Attaullah. They were greatly facilitated by the excellent administrative arrangements provided by PAF Skyview Golf Club Secretary Air Commodore Tariq Usman and his team.

In all, 36 junior girls, aged 6–14 years competed in this event, including 27 from Lahore, 7 from Islamabad and 2 from KPK. This was an amazing increase of 89 percent over the 19 junior girls, who had participated in the 1st PGA Junior Girls Match held in March earlier this year. A euphoric Dr Shami, while expressing great satisfaction over this increase, was very hopeful that this figure would exceed 50 in the third Match scheduled for 2020.

Dr Shami said that in order to ensure a greater sense of participation amongst the young golfers, they were divided into three categories, i.e. Ruby (age 11–14), Emerald (age 8–10) and Pearl (age 7 and below). “Keeping in mind the young ages of the golfers, father’s were allowed to caddy for their daughters while mothers and siblings were allowed to walk along. This injected an air of festivity that turned this event into a most enjoyable ‘family golfing affair’. And yet, amidst all this gaiety, the fierce competitive spirit exhibited by the junior girl golfers, emerged as the single most striking feature of the 2nd PGA Junior Girls’ Match.”

The Chairperson Ladies Golf in Pakistan said: “While envisaging this initiative at the grassroots level that it would serve as the nursery from which we could harvest the future lady golf champions of Pakistan. In order to maximise the benefit from this, a special ‘Talent Hunt Committee’ was formed under Mrs. Iffat Zahra, comprising girl golfers who have already distinguished themselves at the National level, to monitor today’s match and identify junior girls displaying special talent. These included Humna, Sania and Iman, who also served as the ‘role models’ for today’s participants.”

Dr Shami emphasised that a strategic decision had already been taken that, henceforth, a junior girls’ category would be included in all exclusive ladies golf tournaments at the national and provincial levels.