Armand, Hiruna and Vinod take the lead

The Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship, sponsored by Prima Sunrise Bread for the ninth consecutive year, teed off at the Royal Colombo Golf Club on a high note with participation of over 90 juniors. 

This event is conducted by the Sri Lanka Golf Union the national body for golf in the countryaccording to four age group categories.Themain championship is open to players from any age group category playing 18 holes over the three days off championship tees andthe overall winner will be declared the Sri Lanka Junior National Golf Champion for the year 2016.  

Taking the lead in the Championship were Armand, Hiruna and Vinod who played good golf to card gross 78, 7 over par after day 1 of play. Others in the age group category 15-17 years (Gold Division) who showed contention were Taniya Balasuriya with gross 81 and Dilip Kumar with gross 89. 

In the age group category 12-14 years (Silver Division), Mahisha Hirushan took the lead with gross score of 82, closely followed by Kayla Perera 84. Jointly in third position with gross 87 were Himal Randima and S. Sanju. 

The (Bronze Division) age group category 10-11 years playing 14 holes we saw Nirekh Tejwanii card commendable round of 61. Stiff competition and fight by Yannik Kumara with gross 62. Both Abinav Basker and Sherin Balasuriya on 67, coming in third place after first day of play. Also young juniors who showed promise in the this category and likely to pose an upset in the next stages of the tournament are K. Danushan 68, Pranav Muralidaran 72, Kiran Vairavanathan 76

In the most junior category 9 years and under (Copper Division), we saw Shanal Binuksha take the lead by 3 shots with a gross score of 46 and coming in second Kvahn Tejwanigross 49. Dharaniyan from Nuwara Eiya shot 52 gross and lying fourth Musa Shariff from Kandy and Shenuk Fernando on same score of gross 56. 

Prima Sunrise is the main sponsor of this tournament and will provide nutrition for all players during the tournament. The prize distribution ceremony is scheduled for Friday at the Royal Colombo Golf Club at 1 p.m.