The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Corporates have to support the game: Kapur

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Thursday, Sep 13, 2007
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Corporates have to support the game: Kapur

Special Correspondent

Mumbai: The approaching international golf circuit in India will offer a prize money of $6 million. Rishi Narain, former Asian Games gold medallist and event manager of the ICICI Private Banking Masters, revealed there will be two $2.5 million PGA European events in New Delhi next year and a half a million Hero Honda Masters competition.

“There will be a $300,000 Ladies European Tour in Bangalore this December plus a $100,000 competition. The last year’s domestic golf calendar offered a prize money of Rs. 5 crore. So the next season’s prize money — international and domestic — should be in excess of Rs. 30 crore,” said Narain at the launch of the third ICICI Private Banking Masters here on Wednesday.

Final round in Delhi

More than 1200 golfers, all ICICI Bank’s high end clients, will take part in the competition that will be held in 16 cities. The opening round will be played at the Cosmopolitan Golf Course (Chennai) on September 22 and the final at Delhi on February 9, 2008. The other qualifying rounds will be played at Goa, Coimbatore, Belgaum, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Pune, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jamshedpur, Bangalore and Jaipur.

ICICI Bank will also conduct a separate competition for about 50 top CEO’s of India Inc. at New Delhi on February 9, 2008. Moreover the 25-year-old Kapur, the 2002 Asian Games gold medal winner and a promising professional now will coach three promising juniors who will be supported by ICICI Bank.

“The Corporates have to support golf in a big way. There are four or five Indians in the professional circuit now; it would have crossed the double-digit in another five years,” said Kapur who for the second year been appointed brand ambassador by ICICI Bank.

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