Thangaraja stamps his class again
PIN FERNANDO GRAND PRIX
Kandy SC drew first blood in the 16th minute of the game through a Roshan Weeraratne penalty. Four minutes later he added his second for the day. Ten minutes later Weeraratne dummied his way to score the first try of the game. He made no mistake in adding the extra couple of points to take a clear 13-0 lead. Kandy SC centre Oshan Perera touched down next. On the stroke of half time skipper Saliya Kumara scored under the posts for Weeratane to add the extra 2 points to take ‘Lemons’ at 25-0.
After the turnaround it was one-way traffic with Kandy scoring five more tries. They were scored through forwards Latu, Loiohea, Mohamed Jabbar, Asitha Ratnayake and Etuati. Two of them were converted by Weeraratne. The solitary drop goal for Air Force chipped in by Iddamalgoda. Kandy will have two home games at Nittawela against CR & FC and Havies. Their last League game will be against Navy at Welisara. Yesterday’s game was controlled by Gamini Indrasena.
Sri Lanka’s amateur golf prodigy, Nadaraja Thangaraja repeated his prolific success by clinching the July - Pin Fernando Grand Prix at the Royal Colombo Golf Course. Thangaraja who annexed the inaugural Pin Fernando Grand Prix series a fortnight ago waived off the challenge by Sisira Kumara to clinch his second successive Grand Prix series by a narrow margin of two points.
Thangaraja
finished with 280 points after scoring 67, 68, 73 and 72 each on four separate days. He dominated the first couple of days but the third day belonged to runner-up Sisira Kumara and M. Arumugam who ended two points each after the day’s play. However Thangaraja still managed to cling on to the leader board. Overall fourth Zen Dharmaratne stole the show on the final day a best of 70, two points below par winner Thangaraja.
The Pin Fernando Grand Prix was inaugurated in July 2011 under the auspices of the Sri Lanka Golf Union (SLGU) in order to provide an opportunity for all amateur golfers in Sri Lanka to compete in tournaments on a monthly basis. Each month, by courtesy of one of the member clubs of the SLGU, the golfers play four consecutive rounds under strict tournament conditions.
Previously, only two major tournaments were available for men conducted by the SLGU -namely the Sri Lanka Amateur Golf Championship and the Sri Lanka Open. The inaugural Pin Fernando Grand Prix was won by Thangaraja, Sri Lanka’s current number one and Asia’s eighth best amateur golfer. - NA