Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Tuesday, 8 January 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The 11th consecutive Prima Sunrise Bread Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship concluded at the Royal Colombo Golf Club on Friday, crowning Vinod Weerasinghe and Taniya Minel Balasuriya Boys and Girls Junior Open Golf Champion respectively for 2018.
“It is great to see so many talented Junior Golfers coming through the Junior Open Golf Championship and the high standard of Golf produced especially by the two Champions Vinod in the Boys and Taniya Minel in the Girls,” said Tan Beng Chuan, Chief Guest and Prima Group General Manager, the proud sponsor for the 11th consecutive year, since 2008.
Vinod captured the Junior Boys Championship for the third consecutive year and will be eligible to defend his title once again next year. Vinod carded a 72 (one over par) final round, his best score in the 2018 championship to seal a comfortable victory by 18 strokes from runner-up Haroon Aslam of Victoria Golf & Country Resort. Haroon ensured his Runner-up position nine strokes clear of Dhuwarshan the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club representative the 2017 Junior Open Silver Division Winner.
Taniya continued her consistent form carding a 72 (one over par) in the final round to become the Sri Lanka Junior Open Girls champion for the second consecutive year, by an outstanding 17 strokes from Kayla Perera who returned a 2 under par second round score, which was the best score returned in the 2018 Championship.
The ever-improving Nirekh Tejwani won the Silver division for Boys, by a clear 11 strokes from regular rival in the same division Yannik Kumara, leading the field from start to finish, but sealed the victory with an excellent 3 over par 74 in the final round, having held a slender 2 stroke advantage going in to the final day. Danushan was also not too far behind in 3rd place, as he was just 2 strokes behind the Runner-up and three strokes ahead of Levon Niyarepola in 4th place.
Shanal Binushka ensured victory in the Bronze Division with a final round of 67, to hold on to a 3 stroke win from Reshan Algama, in second place. The top two in the Bronze division drew clear of the rest of the field with Kvahn Tejwani and Kaya Daluwatte securing 3rd and 4th place respectively 15 and 16 strokes adrift of the Runner-up. The Bronze Division played over 14 holes and three rounds comprises future talent and are well accomplished for their age category of 10 – 11+ years.
In the Copper division for juniors aged 9+ and under, played over 9 holes and three rounds C. Dharaniyan of Nuwara Eliya Golf Club maintained the lead from start to finish and won by 4 strokes from Varun Fernando and T Deshan, with just 5 strokes separating the top three.
An excellent turn-out of juniors with over 75 participants in the five different age category segments, displaying immense talent and potential to become stars for the future of Sri Lankan Golf. PRIMA Group have supported and sponsored the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship for the 11th consecutive year, and have added the sponsorship of a new event named the Hambantota Regional Junior Open Golf Championship to be played at the Shangri la Hambantota Golf Course in early March 2019.
“The development of junior golf is the platform to produce the top Sri Lankan stars for the future, and the Golf Union could not have conducted the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship so successfully for 11 years consecutively without our Sponsor Prima Group, promoters of Prima Sunrise Bread,” said Sri Lanka Golf Junior Sub-Committee Chairperson Niloo Jayatilake.
The enthusiastic prize giving followed the morning golf and the Chief Guest and Principal Sponsor Tan Beng Chuan, Prima Group General Manager, Sajith Gunaratne, Deputy General Manager, Ceylon Agro Industries, accompanied by the President Sri Lanka Golf Union Rtd. Air Vice Marshall Harsha Abeywickrama gave away the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship Trophy to Vinod and Taniya, the Boys and Girls winners respectively.
Secretary SLGU Nishan Navaratne and SLGU Junior Golf Committee member John Scarth also gave away the prizes.
Prima Sunrise Bread, the generous sponsors promoting junior golf, also presented gift packs to all participants and tournament officials who ensured a highly successful 2018 Junior Open Golf Championship.
The Junior Golf Sub- Committee, headed by Chairperson Niloo Jayatilake, supported by Chandana Weerasinghe and John Scarth, deserve much credit for the time and effort contributed towards promoting Junior Golf in Sri Lanka.
Sponsored by Prima Sunrise Bread
Gold Division (Age 15- 18+ Boys)
Gold & Silver Division combined – Girls
Bronze Division Boys & Girls (Age 10 -11+) 14 Holes per Round
Copper Division Boys & Girls (Age 09 & under) 09 Holes per Round
