Julie Okah-Donli, Lady Captain of the IBB International Golf Club has urged women to participate in the game of golf to improve their physical and mental wellbeing.
Okah-Donli, a former Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), made the call at the Women’s Golf Day Kitty, to mark the 2024 International Women Golf Day.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the event with the theme, ‘Inspiring Women Inclusion through Golf’, was organised by the Ladies Section of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Golf Club in Abuja
Okah-Donli emphasised the need for women’s revolution in the golf game, stressing, it would lead to growth in the golf industry and give women more opportunities to play.
‘We are here to celebrate the International Women’s Golf Day, aimed at celebrating women golfers and to introduce the game of golf to non-women golfers just to tell them how important it is to play golf.
‘Golf is life. It is very good for your mental and physical health and also go
od for networking and business.
‘I have met new friends here that I have never met before. So, for women, that is the best way to go,’ she said.
Okah-Donli added: ‘Golf can be expensive, but it depends on what you want. You can buy an expensive golf kit ,you can buy a cheap one ,you can even buy a fairly used one.
‘The most important thing is, if you are interested in playing the game and you are focused, then, playing golf does not become expensive to you
‘I encourage women and young girls to play golf. Now, we are having a lot of young girls that play golf’.
According to her, ‘back in the days, the game was believed to be for old men and women, but now, times have changed with advancement in technology, the younger ones are even playing more than the older ones’ .
Also speaking, Dr Lami Ahmed ,the first vice President of Ladies Golf Association of Nigeria, said there was a need to attract more women to play golf to reap the benefits.
‘We are happy to be here to celebrate women’s golf day and as the
name implies, it is to celebrate women.
‘The vision is to increase the participation of non-golf playing ladies to begin to love the game and also to celebrate existing lady golfers.
‘Since the game was introduced in 2016, it has been played every year and the import of it is women holding women’s hands in collaboration to enable us to move further than what we are doing, individually,’ she said.
Ahmed said there were not many women playing the game of golf compared to the men, thus the need to encourage more participation of women.
‘It is very important that we give avenue to women to participate, so that we can inspire and enjoy the networking and as well build relationships, ‘she said
Ahmed disclosed that over 70 women had registered to play at the GEJ Club for the year.
She added that different activities were lined up to celebrate the day at the GEJ Golf Club.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria