It is a popular saying that, “There's no game like golf: you go out with three friends, play eighteen holes, and return with three enemies.” As far as Golf is concerned, the pleasure of playing the 18 holes far outstrips the “displeasure” of beating the other three in the group! Golf, as a sport, has captured the fancy of teeming millions – men and women, the amateur, the professional, the one with a handicap of 25 or a handicap of 9, the businessman, the bureaucrat and the executive. Truth is, a good round of golf is always a great round of golf.

In keeping with this idea, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, organized on Friday, 3rd November and Saturday, 4th November 2017 the first edition of the BCC&I Golf Tourism programme. The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry along with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, for the first time ever, organized a Panel Discussion on “India - An Emerging Golfing Destination - Challenges and Opportunities” on Day-1, Friday, 3rd November 2017 followed by the Bengal Chamber Domestic Corporate Golf Tournament scheduled on Day-2, Saturday, 4th November 2017, at the Kaziranga Golf Resort, Kaziranga, Assam.

The Panel discussion was addressed by Shri Suman Billa, IAS, Joint Secretary Tourism, Government of India, Chief Guest; Shri Navadeep Kalita, Asst Commissioner of Tourism, Assam Tourism Development Cooperation, Government of Assam; Mr. B B Chatterjee, Executive Vice President and Company Secretary, ITC Ltd & Senior Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Shri P K Bezboruah, Chairman, Tea Board India & Member North East Committee, BCC&I; Mr. Subrata Dutta, Senior Vice President, AIFF, Managing Director, The George Telegraph Group & Chairman, Sports Committee, The Bengal Chamber; Mr Debashish Dutta, Senior Sports Journalist; Mr. Sudhir Sobti, GM- PR, Tourism, Government of India; Mr. Tridiv Hazarika, Deputy General Manager (CSR & CC) & Spokesperson, Oil India Limited; Mr. Prantor Barua, Internationally Certified Golf Referee and Advisor Golf of Heritage North East; Mr. Shoeb Samad, Regional Director – Tourism, Government of India and Dr P K Mishra, Vice Chancellor, Kaziranga University. The entire focus of the meet was on promotion of Golf Tourism, creation of Golf Tourism Infrastructure and a road map towards achieving niche tourism through golf.

Day 2 of the event was the Domestic Golf Tournament where close to 100 golfers participated. Leading city-based corporates participated in the event. The overall winner of the Ladies Group was Smt Rimjhim Gogoi and the Runner’s Up was Smt Joyamoni Bharali. Gent’s (17-24) Runner’s up was Mr B P Singh and Winner was Mr Amit Khemka. Gent’s (10-16) Runner’s up was Mr Angshuman Gogoi and Winner was Col. K S Uppal. Gent’s (0-9) Runner’s up was Mr Gautam Barkataki and Winner was Nagesh Singh. Best Net was won by Mr Nikhil Choudhury and overall Best Gross was won by Mr Jakir Hussain. The programme was very well appreciated by the media, Assam Government and Government of India.