Training Continues For Junior Golfers Heading To The Africa Championship
The junior golf foundation has settled on a team of seven junior golfers for the All-Africa Junior Team Golf Championship that will be held in Kampala Uganda in April of 2023.
The Junior Golf Foundation came up with a list of the 20 best junior golfers who were invited to train together before the final players are picked for the Uganda assignment. From the list of 20, five junior players were unavailable for various reasons while 15 players went through three weeks of training.
The players were then required to play in a qualifying tournament, the Muthaiga Open before the final squad is selected. One player opted out of the qualifying tournament, leaving 14 to fight it out for the available slots.
JGF picked four boys, Lee Kimathi, Krish Shah, Mikael Kihara, and Junaid Manji for the Uganda tournament. The girls picked include Chanelle Wangari, Belinda Wanjiru, and Audrey Gachora.
“Because we held quite several tournaments last year (2022), we created a pool of the top players from whom we have been training for the last four weeks. Our training involved coming here to the Muthaiga golf club and Vipingo Ridge for those in Mombasa. We have been training them on how to compete at the highest level,” said Vincent Mukiri, the Junior Golf Foundation trustee and also the head of the Africa Junior event sub-committee.
Other than training, the junior golfers had a chance to interact with professional golfers from Kenya and abroad during the Magical Kenya Open Championship at the Muthaiga golf club. The players undergoing training were given free entry to the championship and access to professional golfers.
“The professional golfers also came and talked to the juniors about their life stories and how they made it to the top. The juniors were excited because they could connect what they are doing now and where they are headed. Some of the professional golfers from outside are young, just before their 20s. Some of our juniors are between 12 and 14 years; they have about five years to get there,” added Mukiri.
The seven juniors selected are still undergoing training, and now they will get into a ten-day high-performance training camp before they head to Uganda.
The All-Africa Junior Team Championship will be held from the 15th of April to the 21st of April at the Lake Victoria Serena Golf club in Kampala, Uganda.
