No one wanted to sponsor this Senegalese golf prodigy, so he created his own label.
Record ID:
896675
No one wanted to sponsor this Senegalese golf prodigy, so he created his own label.
- Title: No one wanted to sponsor this Senegalese golf prodigy, so he created his own label.
- Date: 21st June 2017
- Summary: VARIOUS OF PHOTOS OF NIANG PLAYING GOLF WHEN HE WAS YOUNGER
- Embargoed: 5th July 2017 16:44
- Keywords: Golf Samba Niang Sport
- Location: DAKAR, SENEGAL
- City: DAKAR, SENEGAL
- Country: Senegal
- Topics: Golf,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0026M818BB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Top Senegalese golfer Samba Niang is working on his swing at the Almadies Golf Club in Dakar, Senegal. He was recently accepted for the 2017 KPGA (Korea Professional Golfers' Association) Frontier Golf Tour, a key step in preparing for the Asian and European Tours that would ensure he is in the running for the 2020 Olympics.
Niang will compete in six different tournaments across Asia in the next few months.
He has already represented Senegal as a golfer in more than 30 countries around the world, including in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) for the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Golf Tour and at the Thai PGA (Professional Golfers' Association) Tour.
Golf is not as popular in Senegal compared to other sports like wrestling, soccer or basketball.
Niang says he was just an ordinary kid in Senegal, whose passion led him to pick a less ordinary sport, because golf in Senegal is widely considered a preserve of the rich.
"Growing up I also played basketball, I played tennis a little bit, I played soccer, but golf was really where the passion was. That was really the one I enjoyed the most, and growing up, that's why I chose that game. And it was, for me, it was the most challenging, and since I like challenges, that's the one I chose," said Niang.
The 28-year-old says there is a future for golf in Senegal. He thinks it will only happen if there is a major shift in perception.
The 9-hole and 14-acre course golf club he is playing at is in the prestigious King Fahd hotel overlooking the sea in an affluent part of Dakar frequented by wealthy Africans, expats and heads of industry.
But if people knew it only cost 500 Francs CFA, which is less than one dollar, to hire a bucket of golf balls then he says more people would come and play regardless of location.
A more serious hurdle however, for professional golfers is the lack of sponsorship for African players.
That is what spurred Niang to launch his own golf clothing brand, Samba Golf, the first African golf brand. The clothing range is sold online in Senegal and Morocco - though it is far more successful in Morocco than at home, he says.
The label, together with a catering business he started in Senegal, teed up Niang's financing of the cost of tournaments and travel expenses.
"A couple of years ago when I was looking for sponsors to be able to go and play my tournaments and after a couple of months of searching and talking to people and to certain companies, I saw that there was no, I mean they were very hesitant when it comes to sponsoring an African, and a Senegalese especially, because they didn't know Senegal for being a golf country number 1, and number 2, they didn't think that I could have a certain impact on the golfing world because I'm not on the top world rankings right now," Niang said.
But what really got Niang into the swing of golfing and eventually helped him make the cut was his father who not only shared his golfing passion with Samba but also pushed him to excel at school so he could get the bursaries he needed to eventually go to the United States and get training.
Niang Senior, Libasse took Samba to his first golf lesson at the age of three. Twelve years later Samba was learning from Fred Couples, an American professional golfer and former world number one, who was a mentor to Niang's golf team in Santa Barbara, California.
Samba Niang now has a total of 18 professional victories under his belt. He is the only Senegalese to have won the Senegal Open, the international golf tournament organized by Senegal's Golf Federation every year, and the first golfer to take the trophy home twice.
"We supported him by giving him the opportunity to go to the United States, to get a scholarship, and by putting him in good schools to be able to learn this profession and to work on himself personally in order to reach the international level because today we realize that golf is very powerful within sports, from an economic perspective too, and we think that it is something that can help a whole country grow. We can say he is the leader of golf in Senegal, the number one, and also the golf ambassador of this country," said Libasse Niang.
The director of Almadies Golf Club in Dakar, Thierno Diouf, also a golf instructor, says more Senegalese should invest in the sport, either by teaching it or by sponsoring schools, academies and golf courses.
The club first started teaching golf this year with six children signed up. After just a few months, that number grew to 30.
"If people get involved, people give back, people like me that benefit from golf, give back and take their time to introduce young players to the game, and if we get the school involved and start making tournaments between schools, just like tennis is doing it, just like football is doing it, I don't see why we won't have the same engouement (deep passion) for golf in the future," Diouf said.
"I like to play golf because it's great, there are nice people, there's discipline, and we don't use too much force because it's hard for me when we use too much strength," said beginner Sira Diop, who takes lessons with Diouf.
"My school had organized a golf party so my instructor Thierno came, we learned how to hit, my whole class and the other classes, then they asked us who wanted to come (to the club). At first I didn't like it very much, but then I came and I started to shoot and now I like it," said Louis Akouete-Akue, another student.
But to really score a hole in one and get more youngsters to follow in Samba's footsteps, Senegal would need a lot more golf courses.
There are currently only four public golf courses in the country, half of them in the capital. You need to travel at least 50 miles (80km) south of Dakar to find the others.
Senegal Golf Federation President, Baidy Agne, is pushing for more space and is trying to get a golf course included in the plans for the new city of Diamniadio, half way between Dakar and the new airport.
"We also need to push and encourage the authorities at the state level. That is how at Diamniadio (new Senegalese industrial park) we were able to obtain a piece of land through the state, for a golf course at Diamniadio. Why? Because infrastructure is important, and furthermore, we think that a country such as ours that wants to be a tourist destination, it is absolutely necessary to develop golf in order to boost tourism because golf also attracts tourists" Agne said.
Samba hopes to represent his country in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Getting there is just a first step in promoting golf in Senegal.
Winning at the Olympics could well help the sport soar throughout the continent. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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