Vinod, Dhuwarshan, Nirekh, Dharaniyan take top honours
Vinod Weerasinghe of the British School in Colombo, who is currently in sparkling form, took the Nuwara Eliya Regional Junior Open title easily following on his Kandy Regional Junior Open win last month. The 16-year-old, who is showing great skill played with maturity and controlled shot making in gloomy weather condition of mist and a steady drizzle to secure the win over the two days of medal play.
Armand Flamer Caldera, once again, promised much early but fell away at crucial moments and had to be satisfied yet again with being runner-up. They were closely followed by S.D.S. Dilshan and Januka Dilshan.
In the Girls’ Division, young Taniya Balasuriya virtually ran away with remarkable stroke play to win the title by 15 shots over Kayla Perera of Ladies’ College. Encouragingly however two new young female golfers H.M. Daliya of Kandy and Madumitha of Nuwara Eliya were placed third and fourth in the Girls’ Division.
In the Silver Division (age group category 12 to 14 years), experienced S. Dhuwarshan of Nuwara Eliya Golf Club had a comfortable win playing consistent golf over the two days with an aggregate score of 146. Haroon Aslam from Ecole International School showing great maturity came in as runner-up with Dilshan Malinda close on his heels. Levon Nireyapola, who hits a long ball came in fourth just edging out K. Danushan on better a better second round score.
Nirekh Tejwani of Colombo International School stole the limelight at the Nuwara Eliya Regional Open winning the Bronze Division (age group category 10 to 11 years) by 8 shots, with a very creditable gross score of 100 over the two days. The youngster showed great potential to be a future prospect for the country displaying a composed temperament in addition to having a long ball striking ability. Moreover he has shown consistency as well having won the Kandy Regional Junior Open recently. Others in the division coming in second, third and fourth places were Yannik Kumara, Shanal Binuksha and Sherin Mithara respectively.
In the Copper Division (Age Group 09 and under) played over 9 holes there was an exciting finish with C. Dharaniyan and Reshan Alga ma tied after the second round. This led to a sudden-death play off in keeping with the tournament rules. Amidst much tension Dharaniyan of Nuwara Eliya edged out little Reshan, who was unfortunate to double bogey the 1st playoff hole. In this, the most junior division gritty Jacob Norton came in with the third best score and was followed closely by Kvahn Tejwani. As further testimony to the interest in the sport, this division was keenly contested and showed encouraging signs of future talent.
The representation of outstation golfers in the list of winners in particular as well as the large field of junior competitors is no doubt an encouraging sign for the development of the sport in the country and an endorsement of the efforts of the Junior Sub Committee of the Sri Lanka Golf Union, who have been instrumental in introducing a number of Regional Junior Opens as well as the Sri Lanka Junior Open for the young golfers. The event was sponsored by Prima Sunrise Bread and conducted by the Sri Lanka Golf Union.