Commander’s Cup next weekend
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) will herald its sports activities for the new year under the slogan ‘Sports Way Forward 2022′ with the Commander’s Cup Golf Tournament, a competition that has been held for eight consecutive years at China Bay, Trincomalee.
The sponsorship cheque being handed over - Pic by Priyanka Samaraweera
With a lineup of at least 10 important sports events throughout the year, the Commander’s Cup Golf Tournament will see the beginning of a long list of activities of national interest. Hosted by SLAF and its golf facility in the eastern town of Trincomalee, the Eagles’ Golf Links, this year’s competition has attracted over 110 participants, both local and foreign, with almost 15 female competitors included.
“This is one of the most sought after golf events to be held in Sri Lanka, and SLAF is honoured and proud to host that event, which offers an attractive and one-of-a-kind silverware to the winner. The SLAF has made all necessary arrangements to hold the event in a week’s time, with a practice day on Friday (January 21,2022), followed by the single round competition, which would come to an end by the afternoon of next Saturday,” Air Marshall Sudarshana Pathirana, the Commander of SLAF told reporters on Wednesday.
The tournament will break into two categories — the Commander’s Cup and the Eagles’ Challenge Cup, designed in particularly for the members of the defence institutions of Army, Navy, Air Force and Police. The main competition, where the elite set of golfers are in contention, will be for the Commander’s Cup, which also has a separate segment for the ladies.
Continuing their commitment as sponsors for the ninth consecutive year, Dialog Enterprise will stay on board with SLAF. Commenting on the link with SLAF, the Group Chief Officer of Dialog Enterprise, Navin Peiris stated that the Commander’s Cup Golf Tournament is an event it cannot afford to miss.
“Our clientele include a list of elite golf playing individuals, so it’s not surprising why Dialog Enterprise should not continue our commitment with SLAF’s Commander’s Cup, as we have been linked with for the past eight years. We have been associating with golf for many years now, by sponsoring clubs, tournaments, development clinics for children, supporting leading golfers at national and international scale, and uplifting the livelihood of communities connected to golf,” Peiris stated.
The title holders of the tournament, Sanjeewa Ariyaratne and Anusha Senadeera, who won the women’s segment, will definitely have a tougher task in defending their crowns with a huge list of elite golfers set to take part in the one-day event. Last year over 80 golfers were part of the show, but comparatively this year the numbers have increased in terms of participation. Last year’s Eagles’ Challenge Trophy winner Udeni Rajapakse is also expected to compete under the segment alongside nearly 30 golfers from the defence institutions.
After the Commander’s Cup Golf Tournament, SLAF will take a quite break from its sports activities until early March, before hosting the 23rd SLAF Cycling Challenge. The three-day event, rated as Sri Lanka’s biggest cycling event, will see over 200 riders covering a distance of over 400 kilometres in three stages from March 4 to 6. The 105-kilometre event for the women will take place on March 6, on the final day of the main race.
In addition SLAF will confirm dates for the Commander’s Cup Rugby Tournament, SLAF Open Squash Tournament and the Eagles’ Monsoon Cup Golf Tournament within the coming months. SLAF has also being awarded by the Defence Services Sports Board to host the National Defence Services Games in 2022 and 2023, where nearly 40 sports disciplines are included.
“In addition to these, SLAF has been awarded to host the CISM World Military Beach Volleyball Championship from July 16 to 23. The location will be Negombo. Our members will take part in CISM World Military Championship, in particularly at parachuting in Australia, football in the USA, taekwondo in Iran and basketball in Germany. SLAF had a wonderful year in 2021 in sports with two of our members taking part at the Tokyo Olympics, in addition to many others representing the country at various international events. They all will be recognised at our Colours Night, that will be held later, where over 600 sportspersons of SLAF from the period of 2018 to 2021 will receive honours. SLAF hopes to continue our achievements better in sports in 2022,” Air Marshall Pathirana added.