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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Elephant Hills Golf Course will this evening be handed over to the Zimbabwe Golf Association, organisers of the 2017 FBC All Africa Golf tournament that tees off tomorrow morning in the resort town.

The brief ceremony will also see the raising of the flags for the 15 countries that will take part at this year’s tournament and will officially mark the start of potentially exciting five days of putting.

“The course will be handed over to us, as per tradition and the ZGA will be in charge of the course for the next five days. We will also have flags of all the countries that are taking part raised and will remain flying until the end of the tournament,” said the ZGA president Mufaro Chivonivoni.

All but two of the 15 countries are already in the country with six having touched down on Saturday while the rest arrived yesterday and two are expected to land today in time for the flag raising ceremony.

Countries set to take part at this year’s championship are Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Reunion Island, Tunisia, Zambia, Tanzania, Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Angola, Namibia Ghana and hosts Zimbabwe.  Team Zimbabwe is captained by 18-year-old David Amm and will be eager to wrestle the crown from regional powerhouse South Africa, who won the tournament in Kenya two years ago in which the hosts came second while Zimbabwe settled for third place.

Amm and his team will be expected to make full use of home advantage and support to propel the host nation to glory. Other members of the Zimbabwe team are Tonderai Masunga,Takunda Makunde and Rasheed Mahommed and is coached by veteran coach Roger Baylis while Simon Murungweni is the team manager.

The ZGA received a timely boost last week when leading financial institution, FBC bank handed over a $35 000 cheque to go towards the successful hosting of the tournament.

The donation was handed over to Chivonivoni by the bank’s head of marketing Priscilla Sadomba in the company of the brand manager Roy Nyakunuwa on Wednesday. The All Africa Golf Team Championships is held every two years. Countries are requested to send four of their top national amateur players along with a coach and president of their national association/Union for a contingent total of six.

@skhumoyo2000