Sunday, Feb 19, 2017

Dubai: The UAE ladies golf team will be looking to defend their title at the GCC Golf Championships at the Royal Golf Club in Riffa, Bahrain, from February 20-23. Representing the UAE ladies team will be Hamda Al Suwaidi, Reema Al Heloo and Tara Al Marzouqi.

All three have worked hard to prepare for this three-day (54-hole) championship over the past four months.

Al Heloo is coming off a win at the 2017 UAE President’s Cup and Al Suwaidi was on the winning team at the Gary Player Invitational in Abu Dhabi.

UAE national team coach David Condon said: “You can feel that the ladies team is excited leading up to this championship.

“Trying to defend their GCC Gold Medal performance from last year means a lot to them and the Emirates Golf Federation [EGF].

“It will be a fun week, as Reema Al Heloo will also be attempting to defend the individual title.

“The team has been training well and is fully prepared for their title defence.”

As for the UAE men’s team, 17-year-old Mohammad Adel Al Hajeri will be making his debut.

Al Hajeri has risen through the UAE national team development programme to secure his spot in the seniors team.

Playing alongside Al Hajeri will be Khalid Yousuf, Rashid Hamoud and Ahmad Skaikh.

“We are very happy with our selection of the men’s team for this championship,” said EGF secretary general Khalid Mubarak Al Shamsi.

“We have a good mixture or young talent and experienced players. This might be the strongest team that we have had for a few years and we are expecting to see some good scores. Having Al Hajeri playing in his first Senior Championship shows that the EGF and the UAE national team development programme is capable of producing young talented golfers.”

Staff Report

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