Januka Dilshan wins coveted national title at Junior Open Golf Championship 2015

15-year-old Januka Dilshan played brilliant golf in tough conditions to take the coveted national title at the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship 2015, concluded at the Royal Colombo Golf Club.

He shot 72, 74, 79 over the three rounds, playing 12 over par. Prashan Peiris came with a good last round score of 76, playing 20 over par over the three rounds to be runner -up. Januka Dilshan also took the age group category win in the Gold Division (15-17 years) with a total score of 225 and Prashan Peiris was placed second with 233, closely followed by T. Akash and Dhana Ranjan from Kandy, both with a total score of 234 to take third and fourth place.

In the Silver Division (12-14 years) playing 18 holes, Taniya Balasuriya and Vinod Weerasinghe battled it out for top honours. However, the mental strength of Tania prevailed to take the win by one shot in a closely battled final round. Settling for second position was Vinod Weerasinghe and we are likely to see much maturity in the future by these fine junior golfers. The third and fourth placing went to Dilshan Malinda and Kayla Perera with aggregate scores of 253 and 265 respectively.

The Bronze Division (10-11 years) playing 13 holes saw Nigel Fernando from USA take a comfortable win with total score of 173 followed by Yannik Kumara who improved on the third day but had to be satisfied with second position with total score of 186. The youngster K. Danushan Kumara, playing for the first time in this age group category, showed much promise to secure third position with total score of 198 and Levon Niyarepola on a total score of 201 came fourth. We saw much competition in this category on the final day and juniors who showed promise were Sherin Balasuriya, Tienn Kapilasena and Chethana Perera.

The event was conducted by the Sri Lanka Golf Union and sponsored by Prima Sunrise Bread. Prima Group Sri Lanka Group General Manager Tan Ben Chuan and General Manager of Ceylon Agro Industries, promoters of Prima Sunrise Bread Shun, Tien Shing. The age group category prizes were given by Ceylon Agro Industries Prima Group Senior Business Manager & Marketing Manager Sajith Gunaratne, Sri Lanka Golf Union President Nimal Piyaratne and Captain of the Royal Colombo Golf Ranil Peiris. Nandasena Perera, Sri Lanka’s only Asian Games silver medalist, graced the occasion as the guest of honour. 

Results

n Gold Division (Age Group 15 – 17yrs)

J. K. Januka Dilshan    225

Prashan Peiris    233

T. Akash        234

G. DhanaRanjan    234

n    Silver Division (Age Group 12 – 14yrs)

Taniya Balasuriya    235

Vinod Weerasinghe    236

Dilshan Malinda    253

Kayla Perera        265

n    Bronze Division (Age Group 10 – 11yrs)

Nigel Fernando    173

Yannik Kumara    186

K. Danushan        198

LevonNiyarepola    201

SherinBalasuriya    219

n    Copper Division (Age Group 09 & under)

NirehkTejwani    92

ShanalBinuksha    100

Pranav Muralidaran    109

Yun Gu Kang        111

Shenuk Fernando    118