Sports News of Friday, 10 August 2018

Source: Collins Oppong

Our dream is to push Minigolf into the mainstream - Talal Fattal

Talal Fattal, President of the Ghana Minigolf Federation Talal Fattal, President of the Ghana Minigolf Federation

President of the Ghana Minigolf Federation and the Secretary-General of the African MiniGolf Federation, Talal Fattal has predicted that minigolf will very soon thrust into the main sporting activities in Ghana.

“Our plan is to weave the sport of minigolf into the fabric of the Ghanaian society.” The media mogul made this known in an interview with TheGolfer Online, Ghana’s only specialist golf website.

He further noted that, the federation will adopt a “slow but show” approach to inspire interest in the game by earnestly engaging the youths as they are the bedrock and foundations of the success of minigolf.

Touching on strategies that will improve the reach of minigolf and make it more inclusive in Ghana, the former CEO of Metro TV, revealed that the Federation will continue to organize variety of events to draw record number of people to the Sports City Arena; the home of minigolf in Ghana.

Notable among these events are; Singles Competitions, Club Competitions, Corporate Leagues, Minigolf Open, Galas, Ghana MiniGolf Leagues, One-day knockout and many others. With these floods of events, Mr. Fattal believes there will be constant thrill and entertainment in the minigolf fraternity as well as a place for everyone who may be interested to play the game.

The Federation is poised to venture into other vicinities beginning with the Tema Municipality, the Ashanti Region and the Eastern Region. This development is geared towards the vision to decentralize the game as much as possible and eventually make it a national sport.

The Federation duly recognize the enormity of the task ahead as they arm themselves to go national with minigolf, to this end, Mr. Talal Fattal called on other corporate bodies to join the train and establish more minigolf courses in the country as it offers limitless benefits to the society and the stakeholders.

The government through the Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Kwame Asiamah has made some promises to the Ghana MiniGolf Federation which the Federation expects will be translated into workable actions.

The Ghana MiniGolf Federation has been in active operations in just a year and half. Their achievements however have been phenomenal and inspiring. It prides itself as the only association to have organized an intercontinental competition in such a brief period of their operation.

The maiden Coca-Cola Championship produced four champions who will in October compete in Las Vegas for the World Top 100 Minigolfers Championship by the Major Series of Putting (MSOP). These success stories by the federation paints a refreshing picture of the game and undeniably makes the future the one to wait in earnest for.

“The future of MIniGolf in Ghana is great, it’s big by the grace of God, by the grace of the government of Ghana, by the grace of Africans and by the grace of Ghanaians in general.” Echoed Mr. Fattal

He further said, “We will continue to dream and set the platform like we have done with the Coca-Coca Open African MiniGolf Championship and hopefully in the near future host the international championship in Ghana”.

The maiden Open African MiniGolf championship was made possible by GMF, Coca Cola, with support from MTN, Telefonika and the Major Series of Putting (MSOP) U.S.A. TheGolfer Online is the official online media partners for the Federation.