2nd Season of the YES BANK GOLF FOUNDATION Invitational Tournament

2^nd Season of the YES BANK GOLF FOUNDATION Invitational Tournament

- Presented by I Yogi  & Auramah Valley

​To raise funds for developing and nurturing talented Junior golfers.

Mumbai, 2nd Dec : The 2nd season of the YES BANK Golf Foundation Invitational Tournament is scheduled to tee off at the Willingdon Sports Club, Mumbai on Friday, 5th December. This is the second event of the 2nd season, with the 1st having been played on 16th November in Delhi at the ITC Classic Golf Resort. Hosted with an objective to create awareness and raise funds to help and promote upcoming talented golfers, the tournament also witnesses some serious competitive golf.

The invitational tournament will offer attractive prizes to the winners who will be scored on an Individual stable ford format. Various skill based prizes will also be offered during the course of play. Participation will be from amongst invited guests of the various sponsors and the Foundation. Also competing in an innovative manner will be child prodigy, World Jr Champion 2013- Shubham Jaglan who is fully supported by the Golf Foundation.

The morning tournament round will be followed by a glittering Prize Distribution Gala Dinner being hosted at the ITC Grand Central ( hospitality partners). In attendance at the Gala Dinner will be luminaries such as Rana Kapoor - MD & CEO, YES BANK, Mr Hari Sankaran MD IL&FS, film stars Rahul Singh, Chitrangada Singh, Mandira Bedi amongst others, sports personality Charu Sharma and Ms. India's - Gail DaSilva and Noyonita Lodh.

Speaking about the initiative Amit Luthra - Founder CEO, The Golf Foundation, Asian Games Gold Medallist & Arjun Awardee said: "I am humbled that what began as an personal endeavour to support a young talented golfer has now become a movement. I thank my colleagues on the board for their efforts in helping India generate such champions like Ashok Kumar, Shubham Jaglan, Chikkarangapa and Rashid Khan. Rashid infact won the recently concluded Chang Mai Masters, a premium $ 750,000 Asian Tour event, has amassed INR 3.5 Crores in the past two years and is well on his way to qualify for one of the 60 spots available at the 2016 Olympic Games by virtue of his #202 current world ranking.

The success of these golfers has made us believe that with the right support, motivation and encouragement, Indian youth have the talent to become World Beaters.

Thanks also goes to legendary Gary Player for supporting the Foundation & also Aamir by showcasing our work in Satya Mev Jayetey a month back.

Rana Kapoor, Managing Director & CEO, YES BANK said: “The inclusion of Golf as part of the Olympics in 2016, where 30 countries are expected to be represented in both men's and women's competitions, is a great boost for the game. YES BANK is proud to associate with The Golf Foundation for the Invitational Golf Championship in Mumbai, which will give both the organisations an important opportunity to play a key role in talent building at the formative stage of players’ careers, as well as enable them to represent India at the Olympics and similar global golf events. I believe that this initiative by YES BANK and The Golf Foundation is a major step towards creating a winning Golf sporting culture in India”

Uday Challu, CEO, iYogi said: "The Golf Foundation is doing some great work towards nurturing golfing talent across the country, and its particularly committed towards creating opportunities for the underprivileged. The founding principle of iYogi is ‘Good Karma’, and this extends into the goals of the foundation too. We support this cause wholeheartedly, and we wish the Golf Foundation all the best in their efforts.” 

The Golf Foundation has the blessings of its Chief Patron, Marshall of the Air Force Arjan Singh, and the event and the cause are supported by a record number of sponsors, all patronising the event and the foundation in many innovative ways.Anil Kapoor& Jackie Shroff were the Chief guests in the inaugural event in May 2014 & Aamir Khan on 16th Nov in Delhi. With Willingdon Sports Club hosting the morning tournament and ITC Grand Central the evening party, other major sponsors supporting the event are:  

YES BANK, iYogi, Auramah Valley, Take Solutions, ITC Grand Bharat, Willingdon Sports Club, Indigo, Uni Style Image, ONGC, Sofitel, Indian Terrain, Tirun Travel Marketing, 4 Moles, Coca-Cola, Be they India, Fraser & Haws, Raymond's, Emami (F&H), Ashish Soni, Chhoo Mantr, Timex, Godrej Properties, Ballantine's, Spark Advertising, Golf Digest, Honma, Tourism Authority of Thailand and Golf Digest.

Participants in the tournament are expected to be from all walks of life including bureaucrats and captains of industry while the evening presentation will have attendance from supporters of the foundation and leading luminaries.  

The players from the foundation have been having a very successful run with Chikkarangapa, Rashid Khan and Shubham Jaglan performing and winning consistently. Chikkarangapa won the first Asian Development Tour event in Bangalore last month with a record score of 19 under.

A past alumni of the Foundation, Ashok Kumar has been a former #1 and multiple winner on PGTI Circuit, and a winner of the Rolex Player of the Year Award twice.

Rashid, also the 2013 Rolex Player of the Year, is a former two-time winner of the Faldo Series and a team silver medallist from the 2010 Asian Games. He has already won over Rs 3.5 Crores in the last 2 years.

The latest beneficiary of the Golf Foundation is the nine-year-old child prodigy (son of a milk man from Israna village) - World Jr. Champion, Shubham Jaglan, whom the legendary golfer Gary Player christened as the "Indian Tiger Wood's".  13 year old, Ranveer Saini a recent beneficiary is truly special. Autistic by birth, he proved his skills while representing India at the Special Olympics Asia Pacific Golf International Tournament where he won a gold medal. He will now represent the country in the World Special Olympics in Los Angeles in July 2015.

The Foundation is affiliated to the IGU (INDIAN GOLF UNION), the apex National governing body for golf in India and is acknowledged by the PGTI (Professional Golf Tour of India).

With Indian golfers vying for a berth to get into the 2016 Olympics, the Golf Foundation hopes to create more awareness and raise funds to support more talent.

The funds generated by the tournament are entitled to 80G benefits and will go to underprivileged kids so that they can continue creating a sensation in national and international golfing circuits. The activities of the foundation come under the recently introduced CRS clause in Companies Act wef 1/4/14.

The Golf Foundation’s Activities Include:

         * Providing the Juniors with state of art modern golf equipment, specialized coaching and other              

            technical inputs from experts
         *  Financial assistance to play various domestic and international golf tournaments
         * Provision of monthly stipend to look after their daily needs
         * Foster job placements –help them towards financial stability while pursuing a career in Golf
         * Maintaining their physical and mental balance through Yoga and nutrition based educational 

            classes

About YES BANK

YES BANK, India’s 4th largest private sector Bank, is the outcome of the professional & entrepreneurial commitment of its Founder Rana Kapoor and its top management team, to establish a high quality, customer centric, service driven, private Indian Bank catering to the future businesses of India. YES BANK has adopted international best practices, the highest standards of service quality and operational excellence, and offers comprehensive banking and financial solutions to all its valued customers.

YES BANK has a knowledge driven approach to banking, and a superior customer experience for its retail, corporate and emerging corporate banking clients. YES BANK is steadily evolving as the Professionals Bank of India with the long term mission of “Building the Best Quality Bank of the World in India” by 2020.