NAIROBI, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Kenya Golf Union (KGU) chairman Richard Wanjalla is optimistic the national team will deliver victory and a 13th regional title when the 2017 East African Challenge Cup gets underway next week in Tanzania.
Kenya will field eight golfers - six professional and two amateur - in the regional event with Wanjalla stating the squad was selected on merit from various local golf clubs.
Captain Alfred Nandwa (Kenya Railway Golf Club), Edwin Mudanyi and Mike Kisia (Vet Lab), John Karichu (Limuru), and Dennis Saikwa (Royal Nairobi Golf Club) make the senior team.
Agil Is-Haq (Nyali), and Kibugu Mutahi of Muthaiga Golf Club complete the line up as the two amateurs.
"The players were selected based on the current Kenya Amateur Golf Championship Series. This makes the union positive ahead of the games that will be held at the Gymkhana Club, Tanzania next week," Wanjalla said at KGU's Annual General Meeting on Thursday.
The Kenyan golfers will face Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia in the battle for the title.
"We are all happy with the progress made by the coach John van Liefland. I can almost say we are the team to beat when the competition kicks off," Wanjalla added.
The inaugural edition of the East Africa Challenge Cup was hosted by Tanzania in 1999 and since then Kenya has won the cup 12 times.
The championship is set to be renamed the Africa Region Four Championship in consequent editions.
