Sponsors Sterling Group of Hotels have expressed the desire to grow the International Pairs Zimbabwe golf tournament after partnering the event for the first time this year.
One of the country’s hospitality industry players, Sterling Group of Hotels was unveiled as the sponsor for the international golf event at a glittering launch ceremony in Bulawayo in June.
At least 4000 are expected to take part in the Sterling International Pairs competitions held under the theme ‘a unique experience’ taking place across the country’s 40 golf courses as they fight for a place in the national finals which are scheduled to take place at Elephant Hills Golf Course on August 17.
The winners of the national finals will get the opportunity to fly the country’s flag at the world championship which will take place in Tenerife, Spain from 29 September to 4 October.
Sterling Group of Hotels chairman and founder Wilbert Manyika was impressed with the response the event is having in their first year as sponsors and would like to see it grow going forward.
“This is an inaugural intervention from us and it is going to be an annual event. The goal for us is to ensure that our golfers proceed to the international stage and do well. We are also working with our corporate partners to make it bigger next year,” Manyika said in an exclusive interview with this publication.
“We are surprised by the response and we are grateful to our clients, local and international, our stakeholders, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and the government for their support n making sure that this event is successful
“We are an entity in hospitality and industry. We are proudly Zimbabwean and we want to project Zimbabwe on the international stage as a safe and preferred tourist destination. This is an international tournament and we saw it as a golden opportunity to help build the Zimbabwe brand. We want tourism in Zimbabwe to compete on the international stage using tourist attractions such as Victoria Falls, the Big Five, Great Zimbabwe, Hwange National Park, Gonarezhou and Nyanga Mountains, among other tourist attractions.
“This is our inaugural year sponsoring this event and the response has been overwhelming. I was at Royal Harare for one of the qualifying tournaments for the national finals last weekend and it was amazing to see the level of interest and excitement towards the event. There were also events at Chapman, Borrowdale Brooke and across the entire country cutting across all the races in the country as one nation,” he said.
At least 120 golfers are expected to qualify for the national finals with 80 having already booked their ticket to Victoria Falls. This weekend will see the final qualifiers for the national finals taking place. A relatively new kid on the block, Sterling Group of Hotels is easily one of the fastest growing tourism industry players boasting of hotels and conference facilities in Bulawayo, Harare, Mvurwi and Kanyemba.
They also have a private hospital in Mvurwi.
“We continue to roll our units in the second half of the year. We also have land banks that we will be constructing in Victoria Falls as well as land in Chinhoyi, Guruve and Chivhu. Most rural districts are calling us and they want the Sterling brand,” Manyika said.
International Pairs events can be played as men, women and mixed pairs in a better ball format in accordance with the rules of golf as laid down by the R&A of St Andrews.
