A player in action during their opening day of the Sharjah International Footgolf Tournament.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The first round of matches of the inaugural edition of the Sharjah International Footgolf Tournament kicked off on Friday amidst intense competition between 130 players.

On the opening day, Samo Marusinec, Tomas Bartko and Ben Clarke topped the men’s category while Dora Kuchta, Lucia Cermakova and Klaudia Nemcova topped the women’s category.

Zoltan Mayer, Peter Zsuppan and Vittek earned the top spots in the Senior +45 category; while Klass Wijers, Daniel Romero and Andrea Zanardo topped the Super Senior +55 category.

The tournament will continue on Saturday, between 2:30pm and 9:30pm at Sharjah Golf and Shooting Club, where all the players from day one will once again compete to decide on the winner.

As the sport operates within the same rules as traditional golf, the winners will be players who complete the event with the least amount of kicks during the two-day tournament.

The award ceremony will be held at 10pm on Saturday, where winners will receive a prize total of $40,000.

Organised by the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), the tournament brought together more than 130 players from more than 20 countries as part of the authority’s mission to highlight the emirate as a preferred tourist destination for leisure, sports, eco and heritage, and bolster its status as an international sporting destination.