Left Handed Golfers in Sri Lanka form association

Left-handed golfers in Sri Lanka have come together to form the National Association of Left-handed Golfers Sri Lanka (NALG-SL) on the lines of similar associations in many golf playing countries. The new association, which already has 75 members, has secured affiliation with the World Association of Left-handed Golfers (WALG).

The World Association for left hand golfers was formed in 1979 and has conducted 17 World Championships in world famous Golf courses around the world.  

The founder committee of the National Association of Left-handed Golfers Sri Lanka consists of Dr.C. Thurairajah. (President), Captain Nihal Keppetipola (Captain), Firaz Hameed (Secretary), Lewie Diasz (Treasurer) and Christopher Dias (Membership Development), Glen Mathew (Tournament Committee), Dinesh De Silva (Tournament Committee) as founder committee members.

The newly formed association will conduct its first tournament for left-handers in Sri Lanka on Saturday 7th May at the Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) and more than 160 left-handed golfers including foreign participants of affiliated organisations of the World Association of Left-handed Golfers are expected to compete at this event, the Association said.

 “Associations for left-handed golfers have been formed in many parts of the world to encourage and foster the game of golf, in particular left-handed golf,” Dr. Thurairajah said.

 “This inaugural National Tournament of the Association will be an excellent opportunity for left-handed golfers in the country to compete against some well known golfers from overseas and to help raise funds and increase our membership,” he said.  

Apart from the tournament, the Association is planning many other activities for the benefit of left-handed golfers. These include sending members to the 2011 World Championship for left- handed golfers at St. Andrews, Scotland and in Tokyo, Japan next year.  Hosting the Asian Championship and the World Championship are among the other ambitious plans being explored by the Association.

Among the well known left-handed golfers in Sri Lanka are Amal Cabraal, Kumar Sangakkara, Savantha de Saram, Chandana De Silva & Sanjeewa Wikramanayake to name a few. On the world stage, the most famous left-handed golfers are Sir Bob Charles and Phil Mickelson.