safgr bulletin (sept 2021)

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Dear SAFGR Members,Whilst golf courses in many regions are now open, few states in the South of India are keenly waiting! I am glad to learn that our members are enjoying golfi ng at their own golf courses. I recon it is still very diffi cult to organize the physical golf tournaments as public events at any of golf courses due to this pandemic.SAFGR has planned a 2nd edition of

PRID Yash Pal Das Memorial Golf Tournament (virtual) next month [Sept. ‘21]. Members are requested to invite their golfi ng friends to participate in the tournament. Late PRID Yash Pal Das has played very vital role to develop the SAFGR and was always a true guide. I now share an unfortunate news that the 57th IGFR World Championship at Marrakech in Morocco is cancelled due to same pandemic. It may affect the entire schedule of next IGFR World Championship in India. Let us hope for better. We shall update you of the IGFR board decision very soon.SAFGR is exploring seriously to organize the destination golf tournaments at Kathmandu-Nepal or at Kandy-Sri Lanka or few interesting places in India for the members if the pandemic situation improves.

Our membership strength is increasing very steadily. I must congratulate all the members who are driving their energies to invite the members to SAFGR and Rotary. One more golfers club with 29 members has started in the name of Rotary Club of Navi Mumbai Valley Golfers in District 3141. I must congratulate Rtn. Samir Shamshery for initiating this club.I may share that rising IGFR membership from our region too has been recognized at the IFGR. This has created a very positive impact of our region and we are strengthening and spreading our wings all over world. Happy Golfi ng!

Yours sincerely,

Parag Sheth

BulletineSAFGRSouth Asian Fellowship of Golfi ng Rotarians

‘ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT GOLF CUP CHAMPIONSHIP’ VIRTUAL

Message from Chair, SAFGR

HAPPY 75TH INDEPENCE DAY!

LOSS OF SAFGR We deep sorrow we report demise of our fellow member Rtn. Dilip Neotia [RC Salt Lake Midtown, Kolkata, RID 3291]. SAFGR stands by Ann. Ruchi and other members of his family in these times of grief.

We are overjoyed to report that Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta has given his consent to institute ‘The Inaugural R I President World Golf Cup Championship’ [virtual]. It was SAFGR’s idea to honour India’s Presidency of Rotary and to pay its best tribute to be part of history. It will be a Rotating cup every year.

Soon the leadership shall share more about the Cup most likely to be held in Feb. 2022. With the cooperation and dedicated engagement of all there could be a global participation of 2500-3000 golfers joining the Cup! This highly competitive Cup is to be played by all SAFGR and regional Fellowships world-wide. Friends, the Fact Sheet is expected soon. Please keep ready your contacts worldwide to reconnect and help support this very ambitious tournament.

Date: 1 September 2021VOL: I ISSUE: 8 Editor: Rtn. Ramesh Bhandari, Ahmedabad


Date: 1 September 2021VOL: I ISSUE: 8

‘KNOW OUR MEMBERS’ SERIES

Born to a metal business family in 1965, Rtn. Devendra is a rank holder in Mechanical engineering program from Osmania University. He completed MBA from IIMB in 1988. DS was

a chosen ‘Brain’ of his Batch at IIM. At both these institutions he was also involved in sports as well. Currently, he is Managing Director of his group co. Bhagyanagar India Limited manufacturing copper products, auto electricals. He is also Director of Surana Solar Limited manufacturing solar photovoltaic panels and engaged in solar & wind power generation. He is recipient of several prestigious awards from the Hyderabad Management Association [2019] from the Vice President of India. He was also at the helm of Telangana State Council and AP Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Rtn. Devendra is on the Board of Governance of University College of Engineering, Osmania University - his alma mater. He is Founder President of Young Entrepreneurs Organization. He is a Senate Member of IIT Hyderabad and Past President of RC Hyderabad Deccan.Besides his engagements in business, academics and policy advocacy, he is also engaged in philanthropic activities. His family runs ‘Gulabchand Surana Charitable Hospital’ in Bolarum, near Hyderabad

since past 30 years. He has been a brain person whilst at Osmania University and his MBA program. He led all brain games including captaincy of the Chess Team. He continues to pursue his hobbies, viz., chess, badminton. He has been playing golf for past few years and initiated an IPL format of golf in Telangana. His message is simple - do what your mind says but be thorough not to be disappointed. And take all along in pursuit of service to the society. He is happily married to Ann. Namrata and blessed with 4 children Nivriti, Rahul, Mitali and Advait.

JOURNEY OF AN ACHIEVER ENTREPRENEUR & PASSIONATE SPORT PROMOTERPP Devendra Surana, [RC Hyderabad Deccan, RID 3150]

GUEST SPEAKER on 10th Aug. 2021 – [8]

Born to now retired parents in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar on 1st June 1976, he has a sibling working

for NCC in Odisha, from his fi rst medical degree he did his MS in and fellowship in G I Surgery and Laparoscopy. He was Sr. Registrar at PGI, Lucknow. He is a specialist in liver transplant from Japan and Korea. He did several other fellowships in surgery. Besides his specialized training, he has presented many technical papers at conferences and published several research papers in reputed journals. He is a visiting consultant to many city hospitals of repute. Dr. Kaushal is a scholarly workaholic.

A ‘gastro-cancer’ surgeon Dr. Kaushal, is also a committed Rotarian to serve the needy through Rotary. He is a charter President of ReC Ahmedabad Galaxy. He has spearheaded many projects of medical care with fi nances coming from willing donors. For him golf is a stress buster! He enjoys the sport and enthusiastically participates in competitive tournaments. He is winner of Audi Cup too.

Dr. Kaushal is happily married to Ann. Chaitali and couple is blessed with 2 sons who are school going. His message to all is short one - all accomplishments are superfi cial if do not make efforts to serve the needy and protect our environment. All frontiers of science must focus on alleviation of mankind just as Rotary has its 7 areas of focus.

JOURNEY OF A DOCTOR WITH VALUES OF SERVICERtn. Dr. Kaushal Anand , RC Ahmedabad e-Club, RID 3054

GUEST SPEAKER on 24th August, 2021 [9]

SAVE THE DATES!SPEAKERS IN SEPTEMBER14th Sept. 2021 PDG Sanjay Khanna [RC Delhi South East, RID 3011] [10]

28th Sept. 2021 Rtn. Binod Khaitan[RC Central Calcutta, RID 3291] [11]

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IT IS AGM TIME! AGM NOTIFICATION

MEMBERSHIP UPDATE!

GLORY IS TO GOLF! After hitting ‘par 300’ last month, this month we added 16 more! Friends, reach for gold & hit a score of 500 by this Dec.! You need no reminder that potential locations are cities in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Indian cities to focus on are Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune and Vizag. We shall not bask in the glory of recent par!

58th IGFR WC at New Delhi

LET’S TALK INDIA!Friends, don’t allow your spirits to be dampened with cancellation of Marrakesh event this year! Just that we have to work as much more to compensate for the ‘loss’!

Why not identify some of your Rotary contacts in various countries the world over. Your special focus can be on Asia. Reach out to those who play golf to be part of SAFGR / IFGR and also get set to register for 2022 event in Delhi?

News:

THANK YOU! SAFGR deeply appreciate new member Rtn. Dr Hardeep Singh’s [RC Delhi Garden City] for his unfl inching support in motivating 7 members from his Club in one go. This is in sync with the resourcefulness of a Rotrarian par excellence! Thank you Dr. Hardeep!!

News:

SAFGR CHAIR IN IGFRIt is a matter of honour that at its board meeting on 4th Aug. 2021, IFGR resolved to form a committee on IGFR- International Crest & Pin Production Sales and Chair Parag has been appointed to the same.

WEST – AHMEDABAD Monsoon morning at Kensville! SAFGR members Rtns. Madhukar Parikh and Ramesh Bhandari had a round of golf with Rtn. Parag at Jeev Milkha Singh designed Kensville, Ahmedabad in the fi rst week of the month.

WEST – AHMEDABADRtn. Dr. Kaushal Anand [RC e-Galaxy, Ahmedabad] played Independence Cup recently with Messrs. Basant Agrawal, Prashit Shah and Nitin Chaudhary. They were part of a rising stars of Ahmedabad!

WEST – AHMEDABAD

SAFGR members Rtns. Nitin Patel [RC Ahmebadad Main], Anil Singh [RC Ahmedabad North] and Ramesh Bhandari with potential golfi ng Rotarian [RC Ahmedabad North] played at the Belvedere Resort and Golf Country Club.

WEST – VADODARA

Rtn. Niraj Patel [RC Baroda Cosmopolitan] recently hosted Rtn. Parag with potential members Rtn. Abhijit and Mr. Tejas.



MEET & GREET EVENTS OF THE MONTHWEST – VADODARA / BHARUCH Another round by Rtn. Parag on the beautiful and lush green golf course at Vadodara with new golfi ng friends Rtn. Dilip Shah [RC Vadodara Jawaharnagar] and Rtn. Bharat Choksi [RC Baroda Metro] exploring to rope in more to the SAFGR fold!

WEST – PUNE / DELHIRtn. Sunil Khanna [RC Gurgaon Qutub Enclave] celebrated Independence Day with promoters of Oxford Club, Pune! Great going Rtn. Sunil!

NORTH – JAIPUR SAFGR member [Justice] J K Ranka [RC NCR Golfers] [in green cap] was the winner in Best Veteran Golfer category at the ‘Monsoon Bash’ (competition) of the Rambagh Golf Club, Jaipur. Congratulations, Rtn. Ranka! He is accompanied by Group Captain Raavi Raghav and female golfer Ms. Eti Chaudhary of the same Club.

A very special ‘Independence Day Cup’ played at Rambagh Golf Club, Jaipur by visiting Rtn. Ramesh Bhandari [RC Cosmopolitan Ahmedabad] [right] played with [L to R] scratcher Jay Shandilya and Rajiv Solanki.

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NORTH – ROORKEE

Rtn. Dr. Sudhir Choudhary [RC Roorkee Midtown] [in blue] had a fascinating game with a friend Col. Shamsher Singh at his home club.

NORTH – DELHI Congratulations Rtn. Kishor Thankur! [RC Delhi Heritage] had an awesome today. He was winner in 60-69 years category.

NORTH – DELHI Rtn. Nishant Kalia [RC Delhi South] played Independence Day Cup with friends at the Qutub Golf Course. Good show Nishant!

NORTH – DELHI

PDG Ramesh Chander [RC Delhi West] had a great round of golf at Qutab Golf Course [in the middle in red T-shirt]. Others are [2nd & 3rd from left] PP Pradeep Bahri and Rtn. Dhram Batra.

NORTH‐DELHI Compliments to Rtn. Anil Goel [RC Delhi South East] for hitting the hole-in-one recently!

NORTH DELHI / AHMEDABADRtn. Amarjeet Singh [RC Delhi South End] and Navdeep Chawla [RC NCR G] hosted Rtn. Ramesh Bhandari [RC Cosmopolitan Ahmedabad] a game with Rtn. S K Jain

[RC NCR G] teaming on 20th Aug. at DLF, Gurugram.

SOUTH ‐ HYDERABAD Rtn. Amarnath [near the fl ag] [RCJ Hyderabad] enjoying his game at his golf course with a friend.

SOUTH ‐ HYDERABAD / NAGPUR It was when Hyderabad Deccan’s Rtns. Sunil Jain and V. Murali Krishna hosted Rtn. Y M Sigh [dark T-shirt] [RC Nagpur] visited.

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SOUTH HYDERABAD

Friends, why not try this? While details shall soon follow, you can reach Rtn. Devendra Surana [RC Hyderabad Deccan] [mobile – 9848070000].

USA‐ CALIFORNIA

Rtn. Arvinder Singh Brara [RC Delhi South] was recently at the Cerritos Golf Club in California enjoying good golf and excellent weather! We envy you ASB!

SOUTH HYDERABAD

Winners of Hyderabad Golf Course Tournament recently. All winners including regular winner Rtn. Dr. Sameer Azad!



SOUTH BANGALORE SAFGR member Srinivasa Vekatappa [RC Bangalore Kalyan] [in skyblue T-shirt] won the ‘nearest to pin’ prize being 5 feet to the Pin [Hole 6, Par 3,] at the Prestige Masters 2nd Leg on 21st Aug. at the Prestige Golfshire, Bangalore and scored Birdie on the hole. Congratulations, Sri!

SOUTH BANGALORE

Won’t you call it international! Rtns. Prasad Tagat [RC Bangalore Levelle Road], S C Srinivasan [RC Bangalore] and Vedam Jayshanker [RC Bangalore] took part in the Indo- Vietnam Golf Fellowship at BGC recently. Two 4-balls of each country played. The meet was to celebrate PP Rtn Srinivasmurthy, a Level 2 major donor, was appointed Hon. Consul of Vietnam. He also made

his son Shravan & his spouse member of AKS. Event was organized by golfi ng Rtns. Shravan and Aneikar Manjunath. It was an event of great golfi ng experience and lovely fellowship.

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GFR - EUROPE Thousands of Rotarians are already members of the European Golfi ng Fellowship of Rotarians (EGFR) with 2000 members was founded in 1975 covering 21 countries.

RC NEW MUMBAI SEASIDE PROMOTES NEW GOLFERS’ CLUB!History is repeated! The above club sponsored a new club christened as ‘RC Navi Mumbai Valley Club’ comprising exclusively the golfers!! Past President Rtn. Samir Kant Shamshery [RC New Mumbai Seaside] received all the necessary support from SAFGR. The new Club inducted 29 golfi ng members who were all very resourceful encompassing varied professions. In many ways this follows Delhi Garden City Vadodara and Faridabad where large group of golfers joined Rotary and SAFGR via dedicated old or new clubs! Guest of honour for the charter presentation ceremony on 29th Aug. was PDG [RID 3060] and Chair SAFGR, Parag Sheth. He was joined by DG Dr. Mayuresh Warke [RID 3142]. Both were personally present at the inaugural event when President Rtn. Kamaljit received the charter. Chair Parag’s

msg. on the occasion was short – ‘fellowship is the core of Rotary activities.’ He also unfolded the plans of international Golf tournaments happening in India and elsewhere. He said this was the 2nd fellowship based Rotary Club in India after ‘RC NCR G’. He urged all present to grab the opportunity to enhance and deepen the mantra of fellowship while enjoying golf. Rtn. Parag reported that the enthusiasm he saw convinced him that immense potential exists for many more new members. A round of golf at the picturesque ‘9 Aces Golf Course’ in Karjat was held by M/s CanGolf. Present on the occasion were PP Samir Shah [RC Nariman Point], PDG Parag, Rtn. Punam [RC Bharuch Narmadanagari], Ann. Rajni Shah, Rtn. Samir K. Shamshery and SAFGR new member Rtn. Narendra Asija. He presented SAFGR pins to several members. Interestingly, guest golfi ng couple PDG Parag Sheth and PP Punam bagged the trophies – Rtn. Parag was the winner and Rtn. Punam the runner up [above]! Congratulations to you both, Sheths!! Keep rocking!!!



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57th IGFR WC at Marrakech, Morocco cancelled! Shocking as it was for all the registered participants at the WC, IGFR President Prof. Dr. Friedhelm E. Zanella in his communication conveyed his regret that the worsening Covid-19 situation in Morocco has resulted in the loss of local sponsors and political supporters and unfortunately left the organising committee with no choice but to cancel the event. Never in IGFR‘s history has a tournament had to be cancelled twice.

However, IGFR President expressed hope that the IGFR Board and the committees are not giving up. They hope to update us on upcoming world championships soon.

SAFGR joins IGFR President in thanking Rtn. Hakim Tahri, Chairman Organising Committee for all the hard work his team had invested. We hope Board of IGFR will see through it all and continue to strive for other tournaments in months to come.

2nd Edition of Y P Das Cup 19-22 Sept. 2021To commemorate late RIPD YPD’s 2nd death anniversary, like last year, SAFGR has decided to hold ‘Y P Das Memorial Tournament [virtual]’ this year too. The two-day event will be held on 19th and 20th Sept. 2021. Event shall be Chaired by PDG Sanjay Khanna [RC Delhi South East, RID 3011], the Chief Guest for the Awards Ceremony on 22nd Sept. will be none other than R I President Shekhar Mehta.

As mentioned in the event fact sheet, minimum participation fee shall be U$ 20.0 [or equivalent] per participant payable to TRF towards Polio Eradication. As usual, sum paid to TRF shall be matched by twice by the Bill Melinda Foundation. We hope you will join the event to support and be recognized!

To make it a serious professional game, SAFGR shall go App based [digital] right from the start. Mr. Anil Dev of our media partner GolfPlus Monthly shall support the preparations.

STOP PRESS!



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News:THE TOKYA OLYMPIC SPIRIT - OUR WINNERS!

…AND GOLFING GIRL OF OLYMPICS!Li’L GAL CHASES DREAMS! SAFGR member Rtn. Shashank Vishwarupe’s Nagpur West] niece Abha [12] from a small town near K o l h a p u r made a sketch in support of Olympian golfer Aditi A s h o k . Power of Aditi’s golf at the event is so very evident! Little Abha deserves all the adulation and blessing from all her elders!! THANK YOU COCHIN!

SAFGR’s own Rtn. Anil Menon [RC Kochi Harbour] shared a poster put up by the Airport authority welcoming Aditi, the girl with grit at Tokyo Olympic! It appeared India has arrived for the world – medal or no medal!

News:{Contributed by Rtn. Maj. Gen. Anuj Mathur [RC Jaipur Central]}

The way to show to the world we are no less is Marvellous Aditi! See the world rankings of the medal winners....

World No 1 gets : Olympic GoldWorld No 28 gets : SilverWorld No 11 gets : BronzeWorld No 200 gets : 4th [Aditi]

TALENT HUNT PROGRAM LAUNCHED!

News:ANOTHER ADITI IN MAKING? Passion has no limit. More so for Diksha Dagar who is partially deaf (though clinically) and uses a machine. Like her true serving soldier father Col. Dagar of

20 SIKH Regiment, she placed herself doggedly to participate in Tokyo golf Olympic. Father was her caddie. The IGU played role in facilitating her participation. This is the photo of her practice round recently. More support to our daughters!

News:ADITI HAS A MESSAGE ….AND TO INSPIRE FUTURE OLYMPIANS!SAFGR member Rtn. Dr .Gopal‘s offer to fellow Indians during her stellar 4th-fi nish at the Tokyo Olympics is the need of the hour! A great gesture, Aditi suggests we take the game to schools Dr. G!

News:Ish is a talking encyclopedia on golf! Well, so it appeared when we heard him the other day of the history and connection with R&A, Scotland! Besides other things, he briefl y threw light on the way to promote golf without big land mass! He has many ideas. Do reach out to him if you have inclination to push the game in every corner of India.

News: Nagpur - Rtn. Jaiprakash Sharma [RC Nagpur West] was the winner of Kala Ratna Award at the hands of city Mayor Data Shankar Tiwari for his distinguished services in the fi eld of Architecture.

TOKYO MOTIVATES

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safgr bulletin (sept 2021)

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