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Deheragoda continues his winning streak
By M.Shamil Amit
Sri Lanka's driving champion Dinesh Deheragoda continued his winning streak when he romped home to an easy win at the MRA Rally II held at the Sevanagala Sugar Industries in Pelawatte last week. He was the winner when the rally was held for the first time last year.

The route which was originally planned to cover 540 kms and run over 16 stages had to be rescheduled and reduced to 12 stages covering 453.6 kms. Twenty competitors along with their navigators were scheduled to face the starter but three competitors pulled out due to engine problems.

The favourite and last years winner Dinesh Deheragoda in his Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution 3500 a powerful four wheeler with co-driver Mushtaq Ahamed ran out winners. He also had the distinction of recording the fastest timing on both gravel stages clocking 31 mts 31.84 secs and the second stage with 31 mts 54.92 secs.

Dinesh used his experience after being led in the first three stages he and his co-driver took the lead at the fourth stage.Each day consisted of six stages and at the completion of the first days session the duo were leading the rally with a gap of more than seven minutes over their nearest competitor.

At the start of the second day Dinesh stretched the lead to over 12 minutes, with this comfortable lead Dinesh and Mushtaq cruised to complete the 12th stage with a overall time difference of 7 minutes and 23.81 secs. They maintained the lead till the finish of the third day and the overall timing of Dinesh was 5 hrs .04.06 secs followed eight minutes later by Ravi Mayadunne in his Toyota Landcruiser with co-driver Dammika Danasekera.

In third place was Cassim Wahab in his Sunbaru Legacy Turbo 1900cc with co-driver Shafraz Junaid. Stefan Furkhan with co-driver Aslam Chatoor was fourth, Mansur Hassen with co-driver Sriomal de Silva was fifth, Suren Abeysuriya with co-driver Ocitha Guneratne was sixth, Rohan Fonseka with co-driver Annesley Perera was seventh and Tariq Hassen with co-driver Rustom Jalaldeen was the last to finish. Only eight competitors finished the rally.

Milindu excels in Table Tennis
Trinity College Table Tennis star, ten-year-old Milindu Keerthiratne, despite his diminutive stature, has been making waves in the local TT world. His rise to eminence has been duly recognised by the National TT Association which has picked him to represent Sri Lanka in the Jaiyuwan International Junior championships to be held in Jaiyuwan City, China from 25th to 30th August.

The championships will be preceded by a one-month coaching camp from July 22nd. Participation in this camp will undoubtedly sharpen the skills and enhance the talent that Milindu innately possesses.

The cost of the entire tour is Rs. 220,000 ("Ay, there's the rub," to quote Shakespeare). Young Milindu is not in a position to meet these expenses. The Trinity Old Boys Association has stepped forward to ease Milindu's path by endeavouring to collect the required sum.

They call upon Old Boys and well wishers to step in with their contributions.
Cheques should be addressed to: The TCK OBA, TCK OBA Secretariat, Trinity College, Kandy. Any contributions should be sent in by the 3rd of July.
- A.K.

Wijenayake in stunning form
Over the last 2 weekends the Ridgeways of the Royal Colombo Golf has been stuffed with competitions one stuffed into the other. In the opening Competition Dr. Manjula Karunaratne really sparkled. Comparatively new to the game he has cultivated good habits, shunned flamboyance and settled for sensible stroke play well within his capacity. Going from hole to hole in measured style he collected a formidable nett 68 to tell the whole club and the neighbourhood that he won the prestigious Calcutta Medal. Sidat Wettimuny now happily retired from the untidy cricket scene sparkled too. He faded once and paid the penalty losing 2 strokes and the Calcutta Medal. He shot nett 69 to come 2nd to Karunaratne and celebrate with him.

Primal Excels
Wijenayake is possessed with the game. He interrupts the pleasurable process of downing a chilled beer to tell you that the birdie on the 5th was no fluke. I have no reason to doubt his ball by ball comments but I say this to convey his tremendous enthusiasm, love for the game and will to improve.

In recent months he has moved away from a "luperty" stroke player to a player who understands his approach to each shot. Occasionally he fails with a strayer but he is quick to magically recover and smile when next addressing a shot. Over the 2 weekends he called the shots with success.

In the Victoria Cup over 2 rounds he collected nett 72 & 68 both praiseworthy scores which placed him in a strong position but then breathing down his neck was the stylist the new Captain of the R.C.G.C. Lalith Ramanayake. Unassuming, steady and quiet over success or failure he shares the ball by ball shots with his charming wife who understands the game. Ramanayake shot 71 & 69 to make 140 and tie with Wijenayake who eventually took the Victoria Cup with a better back nine.

Squadron Cup
This event is over 4 rounds where one has to be consistently good to pick the trophy. Primal Wijenayake responded exceptionally well with nett scores of 72, 71, 68 & 67. On the 2nd Sunday and the last day of play he was a nervous wreck because he was perched to win and had to have a good below par score. He steadied his game, battled his nervousness and went for the shots after running into disaster over the first 3 holes losing 5 strokes.

Birdies came through skill and tremendous luck and one par came with the help of a stretching hand from omnipotency. "Praise the Lord" he said at the end of the final round of a magnificent nett 67. He embraced the Squadron Cup beating the little chubby Mithun Nandasena who had great rounds of nett 71, 70, 73 & 67. The little fellow is a pleasure to watch.

Long off the tee for a kid, he shows absolute maturity on the greens. What the hell? he is Nandasena's son.

Gold Medal
The Gold Medal once again goes round Rusi Captain's neck. Nine over part through 4 rounds Captain collected a score of 293 averaging 73.25 par round which is 5 over his handicap of 1.

Much was expected of Alain Gyi but he faded out of reckoning. Captain is the best in the country and will continue to be our best for many more years to come. The South West Monsoon meet started with a massive bang crowded with competitors but the field thinned off as several fell by the wayside. There were a few noteworthy performers and a crop of not so worthy performers.

Sarath Wickramaratne, an exceptionally stylish batsman in his early youth hits a helluva long accurate golf ball. On the opening day he was in topping form cracking an exceptional nett 63 to record the best nett score for the entire tournament and receive many accolades for a star performance.

Then came another strong hitter Sarath Piyaratne who moved in and as a wag said "in cavalier style" struck a scintillating nett 5 under par 66. He smiled with glee and signed with pleasure at the long hole 19th. The "Metro" man J. J. Ambani is a delightfully pleasant player. He excels in his short game and enjoys describing his misery over failed shots. He was in great form studded with excellent recoveries from disaster areas. He was happy to end nett 68 beating Nimal Hettiarachchi nett 69.

On another day Iskander Sarudin was quite impressive. An experienced player he is great company and a smart player who relishes fellowship at the 19th. He struck nett 69 coming behind Mithun Nandasena and Primal Wijenayake on 67 each.

There were centuries galore and those who scientillated in style were Jit Wanigasekera, Deepal Weerasekera and Ajanta Mylvaganam, Norman Chandraratne packed confetti with Rahula Seneviratne joining into add extra colour.

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