Abruising battle is in the offing as scribes tee off this Saturday in the 1st leg of the Airtel Media Golf Challenge 2011 at the Golf Park, Nairobi. This year’s event promises an even more exciting battle with winners carrying home a bounty of Airtel goodies.
Airtel has continued to support the media tournament, nurturing the talent of members of the fourth estate. The finals of the competition whose popularity has been souring over the years, will be staged at the same venue in December 2011.
One special addition will be the battle royale pitting the editors against reporters with the latter having an early morning tee. Airtel staff will also be incorporated into the competition, bringing in a new dimension.
Royal media’s Tony Timase who trounced a strong field of over 30 compatriots to clinch the airtel Media Golfer of the Year 2010 award will be the man to watch. Timase who scored a total of 77 points claimed the grand prize from Presidential Press Service’s Kipchillat Kimaru who came in second, narrowly beating Charles Kerich from the Star who came in third.
The ladies prize was won by Josphine Ngumba from the People Daily who beat six other ladies to the title. K24’s Tony Kwalanda, James Waindi from The Standard, KBC’s Milton Nyakundi, Robin Njogu of Capital FM and Idriss Situma from NTV are some of the top players who will be battling it out for a hotly-contested beginning of the year tournament.
Airtel’s Managing Director Rene Meza says the tournament this year is meant to encourage journalists to bond and promises a more exciting all year event with the overall winner taking home the red jacket. He went on to add: “I am really excited that airtel has once again created an enabling environment for the journalists to interact freely and to pursue their passion in sport as they make lifelong connections with their peers”.
Since the launch of the tournament two years ago, more journalists have taken up golf as a sport with some getting a chance to play in major tournaments across the country.
