University of Edinburgh Golf Scholar, Emma Fairnie will represent Great
Britain in the golf event at the World University Games in Bangkok this
week (starting Tues 14 Aug).
An international sporting and cultural festival which is staged every two years, the Summer Universiade consists of 12 compulsory sports - athletics, basketball , fencing, football, gymnastics, judo, swimming, diving, water polo, table tennis, tennis and volleyball - and up to three optional sports chosen by the host country. More than 7,000 competitors from over 150 countries took part in the 2005 event in Turkey.
The golf event, making its first appearance in the Games, begins on Tuesday (14 Aug) and is a massive opportunity and experience, for the Hawick-born Dunbar Golf Club Ladies Champion, one of two Scottish University students in the team of seven.
At the start of this season Fairnie held a respectable handicap of four. But after starting a sports studies degree and being selected for the East of Scotland Institute of Sport she has made remarkable progress.
My handicap was four, is 1.5 now so I've not done too badly, said Fairnie, who this year won the BUSA regional Order of Merit and finished second in the R&A Bursars Tournament. University is giving me four extra years to practise and play golf to see how good I can get.
The weight training I have been doing at the East of Scotland Institute of Sport has made a big difference. I'm feeling a lot stronger which helps with golf. I'm getting physio as well and hope to have help with psychology next year.
Although she is in the Scottish under 21 squad, this is the first time Fairnie has been selected for a Universities team.
I thought I had an outside chance to be nominated for the team, but there are a lot of great players in universities so I didn't assume I would be picked, added Fairnie. This is a massive opportunity for me.