Developing Golf In North-East Next On Agenda: IGU President Brijinder Singh

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Indian Golf Union’s (IGU) next big agenda is to promote and develop golf in the North East states of India. This was announced by IGU president Brijinder Singh after the National Sports Federation’s 65th Annual General Meeting at the India Habitat Centre here on Thursday.

The AGM saw active participation from 15 affiliated State Golf Associations – Assam, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Manipur, Orissa, Punjab, Tripura, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

The agenda for the meeting was to adopt the Annual Report of the Governing Council, confirm minutes of the previous AGM, to adopt the audited statement of accounts for the financial year 2024-25, to appoint auditors and fix their remuneration and to discuss any other subject with the permission of the chair.

“Our AGM went very well – we had our delegates from the North East, who were earlier absent and not part of mainstream golf for long time. We were very excited to have them on board. It is an uncharted territory as far as golf is concerned. We have committed to them we will be taking golf there and develop golf and make sure that children, grassroots and excellence are all achieved over there,” Brijinder Singh said.

The ‘Seven Sisters’, as the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura are called, have a plethora of British era courses based at scenic locations of the region.

“It is one of the most beautiful parts of India but one of the most neglected part also as far as golf is concerned. We will be taking our coaches and equipment over there to make sure that at least one champion comes from the North East in the near future. As far as IGU is concerned, we are rolling out a lot of programmes. We are giving the SGAs all financial support to take golf to all parts of India. We have been hearing about the British era courses a lot and our team will be visiting those and also explore a new dimension and promote tourism for that State,” he added.

The dignitaries who attended the AGM were IGU president Brijinder Singh, Honorary Secretary Shashank Sandu, Honorary Treasurer Sanjeev Rattan, Director General Major General (Retd.) Bibhuti Bhushan apart from Governing Council members Harpuneet Singh Sandhu, Manav Jaini, Simarjeet Singh, Vandana Agarwal, Viren Ghumman, Sameer Sinha and Manav Das. Governing council member and chairman of IGU’s North East region, Nagesh Singh, attended the meeting online.

The attendees observed a one-minute silence as tribute to Late Prakash Bhandari, who served as the IGU president during 2004-05.

During the 2024-25 season, IGU conducted 32 domestic tournaments, 48 feeder tour events and sent Indian teams for 15 international tournaments including Paris Olympics 2024.

The IGU also conducted the first-ever Level 3 Tournament Administrators & Referees Seminar (TARS) earlier this March in collaboration with The R&A (World Rules Governing Body) with 49 participants out of which 42 cleared the Level 3 exam. As of now, India has a record 65 referees who possess TARS Level 3 certification.

During the period, the IGU attained full membership of the Confederation of Professional Golf (CPG), expanding access to global coaching standards, and successfully organized the flagship Hero Indian Open with an enhanced prize purse of $2.5 million.

Delhi’s Chaitanya Pandey wins IGU North East Amateur in Jorhat

By Deepak Arora

JORHAT, Dec 7: Delhi boy Chaitanya Pandey posted rounds of 72, 71, 68 and 72 to clinch the IGU North East Amateur Golf Championship 2025 by one stroke at the Par-71 Jorhat Gymkhana Club here. The tournament was organised by the Indian Golf Union (IGU) from December 2 to 5, 2025.

Chaitanya’s overall tally read 1-under 283, one shot ahead of citymate Deepak Yadav, who had to settle for the runner-up place despite carding a better final round score of 2-under 69. It was also Deepak’s personal best score of the tournament. Arin Ahuja (73-73-71-68) and Anshul Mishra (74-68-72-71) finished joint third at a total score of one-over 285.

“I am super happy to win the IGU North East Amateur Championship at the end as it was a tough competition with Deepak, Arin and Anshul close on my heels. I want to thank the Indian Golf Union for providing platforms like these to amateur golfers like me. It gives us the opportunity to test our skills and prepare for international competitions,” Chaitanya said later.

IGU council member Nagesh Singh congratulated the winner saying, “I would like to extend my best wishes to everyone who participated in the tournament and especially Chaitanya for putting up a brilliant performance. IGU’s endeavour is to give a platform to these talented amateurs to express themselves and prepare themselves for international competitions by testing themselves on different courses across the sub-continent.”