Saturday Sep 21, 2024
Saturday Sep 21, 2024
Thursday, 4 August 2022 00:41 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
From left: Sri Lanka Golf Junior Sub Committee member Chandana Weerasinghe, Sri Lanka Golf Vice President Ranil Peiris, SLG Junior Sub Committee Chairperson Niloo Jayatilake, P&S Bakers Director Corporate Affairs Ruvini Kariyawasam, Director Operations Kamal Jaimon and SLG National Coach Pradeep Kumara
The Sri Lanka Junior Match-Play Golf Championship will tee off this year on 9 August at the Royal Colombo Golf Club.
This year after the break for COVID lockdowns for two years, this prestigious junior event is being sponsored by P&S Bakers, the family company of the late Rukmini Kodagoda. Day one will be a practice round and then the main tournament will tee off on 10 August and continue till 12.
The Junior Match-Play Championship is held yearly in the honour of Rukmini Kodagoda, who won the Sri Lanka Amateur Championship in 1979 and several other club tournaments.
Ruki, as she was popularly known, established herself as one of Sri Lanka’s talented sports women having won national titles and represented Sri Lanka in both tennis and golf. She also held the prestigious position of Chairman Sri Lanka Ladies Golf Union in 1990 and 1991 and Captain of the Ladies Section of the Royal Colombo Golf Club.
“I look forward to the tournament which is a fitting tribute to an inspiring lady who has achieved national colours in two sports and beyond sports, an inspiring personality to us all and had the fortune of associating and learning from such large, heartened lady,” Sri Lanka Golf Union Junior Sub Committee Chairperson Niloo Jayatilake said.
This tournament throws in a different format for the junior golfers where they have a qualifying round, thereafter continue to play Match-play format like the British Amateur Championship the oldest Match-play event in the world in 1881 and then followed by the Ceylon Amateur Golf Championship, the second oldest Match-play Championship in the world. Junior players will compete in four Age Categories: The Gold Division (15 -18 years), Silver (12-14 years), Bronze Division (10-11 Years) and Copper Division (9 years and under).
The overall winner of the championship will carry away the Rukmini Kodagoda Challenge Trophy in the boys and girls categories. The tournament format will be based on a qualifying stroke play round for each age category, with the best eight qualifying scores going on to play in the match play knockout finals to determine the Gold, Silver, Bronze and Copper Division winners.
However, girls in the Gold and Silver Division and the boys in the Gold Categories will be eligible to vie for the Rukmini Kodagoda Trophy and the Title of Junior Boys Champion and Junior Girls Champion respectively.
“P&S Bakers is delighted once again to support Sri Lanka Golf and especially junior golf by creating a competitive platform for the juniors to show their mark. Success in tournaments of this nature will be the steppingstone for international competition,” P&S Managing Director Gihan Perera said.
The inaugural Sri Lanka Junior Match-Play Golf Championship was played in 2014 with Prashan Pieris winning the title. The tournament was last held in 2019 due to the pandemic situation in the country. The winners in 2019 were Taniya Balasuriya in the girl’s division and S. Dhuwarhan in the boys. Both players are over age, and this year’s tournament is likely to see new talent emerge.
