Rusi Captain thrashed

A glittering awards ceremony was held at the Club House of the Royal Colombo, presided over in style by Ajantha Mylvaganam, the Captain. A capacity crowd participated. The Past Presidents were special invitees. I was happy to meet, greet and chat with close friends, Christo de Livera and his attractive wife Nimal. De Livera was a distinguished Past Captain and President of the Club. I thought it would have been a fine gesture if he too was requested to join Past Presidents, Shirley de Silva and Michael Fonseka, to distribute awards.

The ceremony commenced with a heart warming felicitation by Mylvaganam to Chief Steward Ariyadasa, who retired from outstanding service to the Club after 40 years. He was given a gift from the entire membership, an award from the Club and a rousing round of applause from everyone present. The other important event was the crowning of teenager Mithun Perera, as the new Champion of the Royal Colombo. The delightful young man, son of former Caddie and brilliant golfer Nandasena Perera, received a walkover from Nirmal Hettiarachi and then nipped Binupa Wijesinghe in the semi-finals very smartly to enter the finals. In the other half, much fancied Rusi Captain tamed all the ambitions Stuart Ritchie had, to taste victory rather comfortably.

The semi-finals were played through the forenoon on Sunday as absolutely foul weather prevented play on Saturday. Additionally the 36 holes final was reduced to one round of 18 holes. Mithun, as predicted, was unmatchable and Rusi was completely lost trying to contain Mithun’s rampage. Studded with 3 birdies, Mithun was 7 up when he picked the 12th.

A magnificent win, and an embarrassing defeat for Rusi who had won the title 11 times in earlier years. Beaming with delight, the little master walked happily to collect the crown amidst resounding applause, which he richly deserved.

The rest of the programme was studded with presentation of awards for events from May 2006, the highlight of which was the handsome award of the Millenium Trophy. I was delighted to be invited to present the massive trophy, as the eventual winner was my friend, Kumar Boralessa. Ron Bakulman handled the announcements smartly, but I wish he could stud the announcements with a little humour.

Walkovers
There were a few pockets of discussion on the seriousness of walkovers and non appearance at competitions. Many felt strongly that severe penalties must be imposed for these disgusting lapses. This stems from a few non appearances at recent competitions, and the latest walkover given by Nirmal Hettiarachi to Mithun Perera. This was an absolute dislocation of a prestigious event, even though the excuse may have been logical and acceptable. At one table for four, a wag pronounced that “invariably the player giving the walkover does so for fear of being embarrassingly thrashed by a much stronger opponent”. The other three at the table totally agreed amidst laughter. There were several funfilled tables and the most hilarious comprised Dr. Hemal Fernando, Kumar Boralessa, Ajantha Mylvaganam, yours truly and Shiran de Soysa. We laughed like hell over absolute trivialities.