Golf: Kayla Perera earn Top Seed status in Junior Girls Match-Play Championship 2018

Kayla Perera fired a magnificent 2 under par Gross score in the Qualifying round of the Junior Girls Silver Division to return the day’s best score among all participants including the Gold Division Boys and Girls.

Kayla, 14, duly earned the Top Seed status in the Junior Girls Golf Championship where the Gold and Silver players are combined to determine the Junior Girls Champion. 

In the Match Play segment Kayla Perera and Taniya Minel earned byes in to the semi-finals, seeded 1 and 2 respectively. 

Dhaliya Helshiba Herath of Victoria Golf Club, Digana, beat Arika Wickramasinghe 4 and 3, to set-up a semi-final clash with Top Seed Kayla Perera. 

In the bottom half of the draw Sherine Balasuriya trounced Nethmi Thewarathanthri 10 and 8 to enter the semi-finals and clash with Second 2 Seeded Taniya Minel Balasuriya, her elder sister. 

It will be the first meeting for the sisters in a major event.

In the Boys Gold Division, scores were not that marvelous and Taniya Minel’s 77 Gross was the best, however among the Boy’s scores Dilshan Malinda’s 79, earned him the Top Seed Rank # 1 for the Match-play segment. 

Dhuwarshan from Nuwara Eliya Golf Club 81 and Vinod Weerasinghe 82 were seeded 2 and 3 respectively. 

Top Seeded Dilshan Malinda brushed aside D. Himal Randima 3 and 1 to reach the semi-finals in the top half of the draw. 

S.D.S Dilshan beat W. Yohan Rukman 3 and 2 to meet Dilshan in the first semi-final of the Boys Junior Championship. 

Vinod Weerasinghe cruised to a 8 and 7 victory over P.A. Dimuthu to meet S. Dhuwarshan in the second semi-final after Dhuwarshan comfortably beat Leon Perera 7 and 6.

The Boy’s Silver Division seems closely contested with Nirekh Tejwani and K. Danushan Ranked 1 and 2 respectively with scores of 78 and 79. 

Nirekh Tejwani beat Chethana Perera 5 and 4 to meet 2017 Bronze Division winner Yannik Kumara who battled well to overcome Haroon Aslam from (VGCR) 1 up. 

Danushan beat Abinav Basha on the 19th hole to meet S.D.M. Hirushan, a comfortable winner over T. Vikash at 6 and 5, in the bottom half of the Silver Division Match play category.

Reshan Algama, 69 over 14 holes, Ranked No.1 in the Bronze Division, will play N.W.G. Shanal Binuksha, who beat L. Lidurshan (NEGC) in the top half of the semi-final. 

M.S. Sanjay also of NEGC, Ranked No.2 will meet Pranav Muralidaran in the second semi-final.

The Copper Division over 9 holes saw Kaya Daluwatte, top seeded, reaching the semi-final defeating Kanindra Samarasekera 4 and 3 whilst Khvan Tejwani beat Shenuk Fernando also 4 and 3. 

Thejas Rathis Kanth, probably created a minor upset when he beat the more fancied Kian Kiyarepola 2 and 1 to meet C. Dharaniyan of NEGC in the second semi-final. 

The Sri Lanka Junior Golf Championships, sponsored by Perera and Sons Bakers for the fifth consecutive year, created a great atmosphere at the Royal Colombo Golf Club with over 60 junior golfers teeing-off in four age categories and five championship divisions.

The Match Play segment continues and the finals will be worked off on Thursday (5).