Organised from 1-3 October, The Chinar Cup 2021 was a smashing hit with over 30 veterans participating in the event 

This year The Chinar Cup 2021, a three day Golf Tournament was hosted in the scenic valleys of Kashmir.  Starting 1-3rd October, the three day tournament for the dental fraternity was held under the patronage of Padmashree, Padmabhushan, Dr B.C.Roy Awardee, past DCI president, Hon. Brig. Dr Anil Kohli. The genuine passion shown by the participants including 30 esteemed veterans and young budding dentists  from all across India and the organisers made it a truly remarkable event. 

Other than enjoying the warm welcome given to all participants by Dr Riyaz Farooq and his team, including Dr Mushtaq, Dr Qaiser, Dr Nazar, Dr Ritesh, Dr Shabbir, participants got the chance to experience the unique beauty of the Kashmiri houseboats with the plush Victorian and Turkish architectures in the pristine Nigel lake of Srinagar. The cozy J&K tourism huts in the middle of the mountains in Pahalgam and Chashmeshahi was in every sense a home away from home.

The three day golf tournament, though a friendly match, witnessed a fierce face off between the competing participants in true sportsman spirit. With all the hard work put in by the chief coordinators, Dr Sachin Mehta and Dr Archit Tiwari, day 1 of the tournament was held at the Pahalgam Lidder Valley Golf Course starting with an inaugural T-Off by Dr Anil Kohli and Mr Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar (Chief/ Advisor to the Governor J&K). The 4-Ball format game was played between two teams – Team Chenab under the captaincy of Dr Anil Kohli and Team Jhelum headed by Mr Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar.

On the second day, held at the Kashmir golf club, Srinagar the round of golfing was followed by a formal dinner hosted by Mr Vijay Dhar, owner DPS Srinagar, a well reputed family of Kashmir. Mr Vijay Dhar, son of Shri D.P. Dhar is well known as a social worker and a great host. 

The final day of the match was conducted at the beautiful Srinagar Royal Spring golf course and later followed by some sightseeing and a gala dinner. The highlight of the day was the chief guest of the event Lt. Governor Mr Manoj Sinha, who felicitated all the participants. The results were announced at the final dinner party and to everyone’s surprise it was a tie between the two teams, Chenab and Jhelum. A stunning pure silver trophy was shared by both the teams and as it was a running trophy, it will be awarded every year to the winners in the upcoming tournaments. 

Dr Sunil Sharma, Dr Amandeep Singh and Dr Sachin Dev Mehta won the players of the day 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Various other titles were distributed among the participants with the Player of the tournament being awarded to Dr Sujit Nagrath, nearest to pin trophy to Dr Anil Kohli, Dr Sanjay Pawah and Dr Balbir Singh,  the youngest player award to Dr Archit Tiwari. Straight Drive winners were Dr Rajeev Tiwari and Dr Ravindra Savadi. Dr Raj Arya, Dr A.P. Tikku and Dr Aman Sachdva bagged the award for the longest drive. 

The Best Female Golfer of the tournament was awarded to Dr Anjali Tiwari and the Hidden Hole winners were Dr Mohit Agarwal, Dr Sharad, Major Gen. Dr Arup Pal and Col Dr SK Ojha. Dr Amit Dania was titled the most stylish golfer of the event. Another eminent personality Air Marshal Mr Ajit Bhosle (member UPSC) graced the occasion with his presence and boosted the morale of the team members by actively participating throughout the tournament. 

Two Hero cycles were gifted to Dr Mushtaq and Dr Ritesh as an appreciation for their outstanding hard work in organizing this tournament. 

With every passing year, The Indian Dental Fraternity Golf Association is growing with grace, and is striving hard to make it the best golf tournament in the country. With this tournament being a hit, next year’s event at Jaipur promises to be an even better one.

The sponsors for the event played an integral part in the implementation as well as the success of the event. The event concluded with a special note of thanks to M.M Auto who donated the Silver Trophy, in the name of Baikunthwasi Mohinder Singh Singyle (Mata Ji). 

Similarly, apparels for the event were sponsored by Sudhir Seth, owner of Sudhir Powering the nation. Mr Pankaj Munjal, owner of Hero Cycles contributed with his generous donation of two sports bicycles to the winner. 

Mankind Pharma owner Mr R.C Juneja hosted the dinner at the award function. He was one of the principal contributors to the PM relief Fund, donating 200 crore during the pandemic. 

Mr Vipin Malik owner Informics Ratings sponsored the gifts given to the players while Dr Raj Arya sponsored the T-Shirts for the tournament. 

(Cover: The three day Chinar Cup Golf Tournament 2021 was hosted in the scenic valleys of Kashmir)