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program to take place in Hambantota, Diyatalawa and Trincomalee this year
The Sri Lanka Golf Union, together with HSBC, will for the second successive year host the International Junior Golf Championship, with over 100 junior golfers expected to take part.
Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Thailand are set to take part in the tournament at the Royal Colombo Golf Club from 1-2 August.
This event, initiated by the SLGU Junior Subcommittee, aims to raise the bar of junior golf in the country by providing much needed exposure to our junior golfers to international level competition. It is hoped that the tournament will create a platform for potential future national representation for several junior golfers in the country.
All current junior golfers in the country will have the opportunity to participate in the tournament, with the individual event - categorised into various age groups - set to be held on 1 August.
On the following day an International Junior Golf ‘Team Championship’ for the SLGU Trophy will be held with each of the countries fielding a team comprising two boys and two girls. The terms of play will be on a format structured on a hybrid version of similar international team events such as the Asia Pacific Golf Team Championship and the Ryder Cup in the US. This event will be hosted by the Royal Colombo Golf Club with play set to start at 8.00 a.m. on both days and the afternoon session set to begin at 1.00 p.m.
Speaking about the event, newly-elected President of the Sri Lanka Golf Union, Air Chief Marshal Harsha Abeywickrama, stated: “We are delighted to be once again having with us junior internationals from Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Thailand for the HSBC International Junior Golf Championship. We hope that they will enjoy our country and gain as much from playing this tournament in Sri Lanka as our juniors undoubtedly will from this experience.»
SLGU council member and organiser of the HSBC Grassroot initiative, Niloo Jayatilake, was optimistic of the future of golf in the country and full of praise for the magnanimity of the sponsors. “We expect such events to significantly raise the standard of junior golf in the country with the exposure to the best in the region. Golf is an essentially a skill sport in which Sri Lankans can compete at the highest international level,” she said.
“Asian Games Silver medallists Anura Rohan and Nandasena Perera are testimony to this. Both started golf at a young age and with the current crop of talented juniors we remain hopeful that many more champions are in the pipeline. The spontaneous support we have received from the sponsors has been truly heart-warming. Without them an international event such as this would not have been possible.»
HSBC, a major promoter of golf worldwide, will be the title sponsor of the championship, with the bank sponsoring many prestigious global golf championships such as the HSBC WGC Golf championships in Shanghai, HSBC Women›s Championship in Singapore and The Open in the UK to name a few.
Future Lions
HSBC will also partner the SLGU in promoting the ‘Future Lions’ program which will be conducted parallel to the main international event. This is a novel initiative whereby golf will be introduced as a sport to schoolchildren in various locations countrywide.
This grassroot program will be open to kids aged 8-13 and will be rolled out this year in Hambantota, Diyatalawa and Trincomalee. This is the second year that HSBC has come forward to support this nationwide talent scouting initiative which will see further expansion in the years to come. HSBC conducts similar golf programs to popularise the sport in many other countries such as the UK, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi. HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives Chief Executive Officer Mark Prothero said: “We were delighted last year to initiate Sri Lanka’s inaugural Junior Golf grassroots programme (HSBC Future Lions) in partnership with the Sri Lanka Golf Union, which engaged over 300 children across five locations, and to be part of the inaugural Sri Lanka Junior International Golf Championships in 2017, which was a resounding success. We are excited with the young golf talent discovered in key cities, and even some less heralded places like Kilinochchi in the North, which augurs well for the sport.”
The winner of the HSBC Junior Open and HSBC Premier Junior winner on 1 August will get two passes to the prestigious 148th edition of The Open scheduled at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland in 2019, for which HSBC is a key patron.
The HSBC Junior International Golf Championship is further supported by several other partners. Cinnamon Life has come forward as the hospitality partner for the event and will host all the international teams.
To register or to find out more information, all schools and parents may call Duminda on 0714-327343 (SLGU Hotline). HSBC Premier Clients can register by contacting their respective relationship managers.
