Mohammad Skaik, Sayed Rayan Ahmed and Sam Mullane will represent the UAE at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship, scheduled from September 1 to 4 at Bayhood No. 9 International Golf Club in Beijing. The delegation will be headed by Emirates Golf Federation Secretary General Khalid Mubarak Al Shamsi and includes coach Faycal Serghini.
The tournament represents another major competitive assignment for the national side after an intensive training programme designed to sharpen the players’ technical, physical and mental preparation. The squad completed an overseas camp in Rabat, Morocco, where training was conducted at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam before the players returned for the final stages of preparation ahead of their departure for China.
Al Shamsi said the team would travel with the ambition of producing performances that demonstrate the progress being made by golf in the UAE. He said the players had shown commitment during their preparation and would face a demanding examination against some of the Asia-Pacific region’s strongest amateur competitors.
The 2026 championship will be the 31st edition of the Nomura Cup, which was first staged in 1963 and has developed from a small regional contest into a major biennial competition involving national associations across Asia and the Pacific. Beijing is hosting the championship at Bayhood No. 9 International Golf Club, with the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation and China Golf Association involved in staging the event.
Competition will be held over four rounds of 18-hole stroke play. Each country fields three golfers, with the two lowest individual scores from each team counting towards its daily total. The combined scores over 72 holes determine the champions, placing a premium on consistency across the four days rather than relying on a single standout round.
Vietnam will arrive as defending champion after making history at the 2024 tournament in Hai Phong. The host team won the Nomura Cup for the first time, becoming only the eighth nation to claim the trophy. Nguyen Anh Minh also topped the individual standings after finishing the championship at 12 under par.
The 2024 event illustrated the strength and depth of the field the UAE players can expect in Beijing. Teams representing established golf nations including Japan, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Thailand and China competed alongside emerging programmes from across the region. The UAE finished the third round of that championship level with Chinese Taipei and remained ahead of several competing teams going into the final day.
Australia and Japan have historically been among the most successful countries in the competition, although the balance of power has broadened as amateur golf programmes in Southeast Asia and other parts of the region have strengthened. Vietnam’s breakthrough victory in 2024 underlined that shift, while the growing number of highly ranked younger players entering regional championships has increased the competitive pressure on traditional powers.
New Zealand has selected Cooper Moore, Yuki Miya and Zach May for Beijing. Moore brings significant international experience after representing his country at the Eisenhower Trophy and winning both the Australian Boys Amateur and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Junior Boys’ Championship. The composition of competing squads reflects the Nomura Cup’s growing role as a pathway event for players aiming to progress through elite amateur golf.
For the UAE, the Beijing campaign forms part of a broader development programme intended to provide national-team golfers with greater exposure to international competition. The Emirates Golf Federation has increasingly used overseas camps and continental tournaments to give leading players experience of unfamiliar courses, different playing conditions and sustained tournament pressure.
Skaik, Ahmed and Mullane will have little margin for error under the Nomura Cup scoring system because only two scores count each day. A strong round from two players can move a team rapidly up the standings, while difficulties for more than one member can have an immediate effect on the overall position.
Preparations in Morocco were structured around that competitive challenge, combining technical work with physical conditioning and on-course sessions. The federation sees such camps as an important component in building a deeper pool of golfers capable of competing at Asia-Pacific level.
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