MUSCAT: Oman’s Ahmed al Wahaibi bagged the individual silver medal while the national team claimed a runner-up finish at the recently-concluded 14th GCC U18 Golf Championship, held at the Royal Golf Club in Manama, Bahrain.
The Oman U18 squad comprised Al Wahaibi, Ayman Al Busaidi and Adam Al Barwami.
The three-day event held along with the 25th GCC Men’s Golf Championship, saw hosts Bahrain win the gold in the U18 event. The team scored a total of 44 over par, five strokes ahead of Oman (+49) while UAE was 11 shots (+55) adrift for third place. Kuwait (+92) and Qatar (+105) came fourth and fifth respectively. Each team had three players each with the two best scores of each day counting to the overall total.
In the individual event, Oman’s Al Wahaibi missed out on a gold medal by just one shot as Kuwait’s Salem Alabkal won the title with a score of 20-over-par total of 236. Al Wahaibi shot 21-over-par 231 while Bahrain’s Abdulrahman Hasan Mehaizea was third with 240.
Mundhir Al Barwani, Oman Golf Association (OGA) chairman, congratulated the players for their podium finish. “It was another fine performance by the Under 18’s following a similar result at the 2022 GCC Championships in Abu Dhabi. The result augurs well for the future of Oman golf,” said Barwani.
OGA thanked its partners - Sohar Aluminium, Moore Stephens, and Oman LNG - for supporting the junior golf development programme and also thanked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth for their continuous and invaluable support.”