Ambassador's Cup Golf Tournament 31 March

Harinder Sikka of Nicholas Piramal Group organised this 2007 edition with great style. The tournament was given live coverage by Zee Business TV network. There were lots of goodies, plane tickets and prizes.
Although I did not win any trophy this year, I won two skins which got me a pair of footjoy golf shoes and a custom-fit Saville Row suit.... My score was 47 in the first nine and 38 in the second nine. Last year I played 82.

The tournament was held in JP Green in Greater Noida. The picture above is the par-3 fourth hole.

The prize distribution and dinner was held at the residence of Spanish ambassador Don Rafael Conde. Sikka had brought in a music and dance group from Srilanka, which gave a scintillating performance. The event was compered by Shivani who did a professional job with a sense of humour. The event was put together by Digraj Singh of Tiger sports marketing.

Besides Ambassadors, there were civil servants, businessmen and judges. Mr Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State for defence was the chief guest.

In my group there was the Army chief Gen JJ Singh, the Chinese and Japanese Ambassadors. The Chinese Ambassador told me that 30 out of 58 diplomats in his embassy play golf. And they practice in the embassy compound, where they can hit upto 200 yards !. There are already 3000 golf courses in China. It is amazing the way the Chinese have caught up. Another few years.. and one should not be surpised to see Chinese world champions in golf !

I was asked to give a humorous speech to entertain the audience, which I did. I joked about diplomatic way of speaking and handling issues... I talked about Indian ambassadors and brought in Latin America in the jokes. I thought i would get away with my usual cultural shock to the audience with sexy jokes. Hmmm.. this time i got a cultural shock from some of the older members of the audience who found some of my humorous anecdotes too spicy.