Stage set for 16th Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup

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    {
        'caption' => 'The winner of the DDF Golf World Cup 2007, Naima Maya, with Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director, Dubai Duty Free, George Horan, Deputy Managing Director, Dubai Duty Free & Sinead El Sibai, Manager-Events, Advtg & Media, Dubai Duty Free.',
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Open to representatives of the duty free industry only, this year's tournament has attracted over 70 international players from over 20 countries, with the remaining players coming from the UAE.

Commenting on the overwhelming popularity of the golf tournament, Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free, said:

'When we started this tournament back in 1993, it was intended as a way of bringing the duty free industry people to Dubai for a couple of days of friendly competition. The tournament has grown tremendously over the years and we now have over 110 players participating from all over the world.'

The international players have flown in from Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Netherlands.

On the social front, the golfers and guests will be entertained by acclaimed Irish artist, Sharon Shannon and her band, as well as an opera trio 'Elysium' at a private concert taking place at The Irish Village on the evening of the 23rd November.

The tournament, which is organized by Dubai Duty Free, will take place in the middle of an extremely busy week in Dubai. Two days prior to the tournament will see the staging of two tennis events for which Dubai Duty Free is a sponsor, the ITF Dubai Aviation Cup and the Legends 'Rock' Dubai respectively. The Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup is then followed by the Middle East Duty Free Association (MEDFA) conference which will be held for the first time at the Towers Rotana Hotel in Abu Dhabi on 25th and 26th November and will feature top industry speakers addressing regional and global issues.

The sporting theme continues in November with the Dubai Rugby 7's (27 November - 29 November) to be held at the Emirates Sports Complex in which Dubai Duty Free co-sponsors the Welsh team along with The Irish Village. The operation will also co-sponsor the final leg of the Offshore Powerboat Championship taking place at DIMC on 13th December.