By GWEN CHIPASULA –
ZAMBIA made a strong start to the inaugural All-Africa Girls Junior Golf tournament in Mombasa, Kenya as the Tina Nawa captained team is in second place after the opening two rounds.
The team that has Nawa, Jahaanvie Walia,  Sarah Zulu and Tavengwa Mwango posted an impressive two round total of 493 points to stay in second far behind leaders Kenya but way ahead of third placed Zimbabwe.
Leaders Kenya have 472 points, 21 shots better than Zambia, while Zimbabwe are in third with 532, an awesome 39 strokes behind the Nawa-led side.
It was a good performance that left Zambia Ladies Golf Union (ZLGU) president Moono Mwila excited, saying the girls have a lot more potential to perform better in the third and last round.
In the opening round, Zambia posted  249 which was a combined 36-over after results picked from the best three performing with leaders Kenya posting a 24-over-par 237 and Zimbabwe in third on 46-over-par 249.
The second round saw Kenya add 235 for a 472 total while Zambia added 244 to be on 493 overall while Zimbabwe second round total came to 532.
The championship is a gross scoring tournament that sees the country with the low handicap strong players get to thrive and it was no surprise that Kenya were way in front on Day-One.
From the individual leaderboard, Nawa put up a strong showing by jumping into second position after two rounds with 154, two shots off leader Kellie Gachaga of Kenya, who is followed by her team-mate Naomi Wafula in third with 156.
Moono said being in second behind the hosts meant that the team was performing well and expressed hope that the girls would put up an even better performance to finish tops.
Walia was Zambia’s second best player and fourth overall with a two round total of 163 while Zulu was the third best on 176.
The fourth Zambian at the tournament Mwango has a total of 200 and her scores so far have not got onto the team’s score.
Meanwhile, on the team leaderboard, Nigeria is fourth on 576 and Uganda in fifth on 606.