Golf: Junior Open Nationals from December 15

Over 70 youngsters are expected to compete at the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship which will be held from December 15 to 17 at the Royal Colombo Golf Club. 

Considered as the most prestigious competition for young golfers, the Junior Open Championship draws talents from Colombo, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya after the growing popularity of the sport at regional levels.  

This has culminated from the successful junior development programmes conducted by local golf clubs with the support of the Sri Lanka Golf Union. 

In addition the holding of Regional Junior Open competitions this year in Nuwara Eliya and Kandy, supported by the sponsors of the competition, Prima Sunrise Bread, has been instrumental in developing the talent locally. 

The tournament is open to both boys and girls under the age of 18 years and is the most sought after tournament in the local golfing calendar and is conducted by the Sri Lanka Golf Union. 

The competition will be conducted in four age group categories and the championship will be open to players from any age group category. 

The age group categories are 15 to 17 years which is named as Gold Division, 12 to 14 years in the Silver Division, 10 to 11 years for the Bronze Division and 9 years and under fir the Copper Division. 

The overall winner will be declared the Sri Lanka Junior National Golf champion for the year 2015.

Past champions of this tournament who later became professionals are, Nandesena Perera, Mithun Perera, Lalith Kumara and AnuraRohana. Golfers such as Binupa Wijesinghe, Alain Gyi, Ranil Peiris, Rusi Captain have all gone on to become Sri Lanka’s top amateur golfers from this competition. 

Last year 18-year-old Lamindu Rainika won the competition. However competition will be likely stiff in the open category for the national junior title among Armand Flamer Caldera, S. Flamin, Buddika Jayalath, T. Akash, S. Kailas and Prashan Pieris.

Also this year’s tournament is likely to see the talents of Tania Balasuriya, Sathsara Dilshan, Kayla Perera, Hiruna Siegera, Levon Niyarepola, Vinod Weerasinghe, S. Flamin, S. Praveenraj, Nirekh Tejwani, Yannik Kumara, Mahisha Hirushan and Vikash Tangadore who are battling for top spots in their respective age group categories.

The sponsorship cheque was presented by ShunTien Shing, the General Manager of Ceylon Agro Industries, Prima Group Sri Lanka and Sajith Gunaratne, the Senior Business Manager and Senior Marketing Manager of Ceylon Agro Industries Prima Group Sri Lanka at a press conference held on Tuesday (7) at the Royal Colombo Golf Club.

The Captain, Ranil Peiris represented the Sri Lanka Golf Union along with Niloo Jayatilake, a council member and chairperson of the Junior Development Subcommittee.