Kenya Junior Stroke Play golf champion Taimur Malik of Muthaiga Thursday moved closer to making a national double in the Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) golf series.
The talented Malik, formerly of Windsor, put up a brave fight beating home player Nihal Shah 5-4 in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Kenya Amateur Junior Match Play Championship, at Sigona Golf Club’s par 72 course, to book a semi-final match with Royal Nairobi’s Ikinu Wambugu from Friday 7.20am.
Before moving to the last eight, the off-scratch Malik had beaten Wasim Ali with a similar margin in the Absa Group-sponsored tournament. The other semi-final match will be between Muthaiga’s Njoroge Kibugu and Windsor’s Lee Kimathi.
Kibugu, scored an upset one-up victory against one of the tournament favourite Zubair Khan also from Muthaiga in the quarter-finals where Kimathi won 4-3 against Njogu Kung’u of Royal. The biggest upset during the quarter-finals was the defeat of tournament leading contender and the most experienced player in the event Mutahi Kibugu of Muthaiga who went down to Ikinu Wambugu by one hole.
Mutahi had beaten Nyali’s Zayan Din in the round of 16 5-4, while Ikinu Wambugu had won 2-1 against Vet Lab’s Leo Zurovac. The Sigona player Nihal Shah made his way to the quarters after beating Daniel Kiragu 6-5 while Lee Kimathi had posted a 4-3 victory against Richard Muthugia. Njoroge Kibugu beat Ngondo Kimemia 7-6 while Zubar Khan were 5-3 winners over Marvin Ng’ang’a.
The winners of the semi-finals will meet in the final soon after the semis, followed by the prize giving ceremony thereafter.
This year, 35 juniors participated in the event which started with a 36-hole stroke play qualifying event where Mutahi Kibugu topped the qualifying list.
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