|| KASHMIR LEADER
Jammu and Kashmir Golf Association has elected ace-golfer MushtaqBurza as its new president during the elections which was held on June 5, 2016 at SKICC here. Burza was backed by 400 members to clinch the victory. While Burza has secured the top position in the elections, K Khosa will be the new Vice President of the body while as Shabir Ahmad Bhat was elected as General Secretary and RS Bali as Treasurer. Besides, Sanjay Wahi, Nitin Wazir, MP Singh, AltafNaik and Waqar Shuntoo are the other members of the newly elected executive body of the Association. The elections were held under the Supervision of Returning Office Justice (retd) MA Jan while Prof B A Shah and Bani Adnrabi were the observers from J&K State Sports Council. Burza who owns a chain of Hotels – Ahad Group of Hotels- is now JK Golf Association’s second President. JK Golf Association which is government recognized body and affiliated with the Indian Golf Association aims to promote the golf among youngsters, school going children besides organizing tournaments in the State. Highlighting the vast potential of the game in the state, Burza said J&K has most beautiful location and pleasant weather to attract golfers from around the world. “J&K is a golfing destination. We have the oldest golf courses like Kashmir Golf Course and Gulmarg Golf Course. These golf courses testify that Kashmir is an oldest golfing destination which needs to be promoted properly,” said Burza. Burza said his priority would be to promote the game at grass-root level and organize more tournaments. “When we have best golf courses like Royal Springs Golf Course in Srinagar and also Pahalgam Golf Course, we should be getting maximum number of golfers. Golfers are high-spending tourists which are visiting Kashmir in less numbers. Golf will increase the flow of high-spending tourists to Kashmir,” said Burza. JK Golf Association also plans to organize coaching camps for school children. “Golf has been now included in Olympics as well. We need to inculcate golf playing interest among students. We will wish schools to take lead and organize camps for the students so that we have professional golfers who carve a career out of this game,” said Burza. Last year, the Association organized five tournaments in Kashmir. “We will have frequent tournaments now and we will even attract foreign golfers especially from Japan and Korea. More tournaments will help us promote our place as best golfing-destination,” said Burza.
