Sri Lanka Junior Match Play Golf Championship 2016 for Rukmini Kodagoda Trophy

The match play segment of the tournament commenced where the players showed much excitement given the knockout format. The most junior category, the Copper Division age group nine years and under saw Shanal Binuksha have a close call against Shenuka Fernando; however, going on to win the game 2-1.

In the other pairing Pranav Muralidaran managed a win against Kvahn Tejwani one up on the last hole. We are likely to see an exciting final between Shenuka and Pranav which will be played today. The plate played on the second day by the players who did not qualify for match play was won by Ruchira Niclas – Gold Division, Vikash Thangadore – Silver Division, Prabodha Niroshan – Bronze Division and Reshan Algama – Copper Division.

In the Gold, Silver and Bronze Divisions the quarter finalist battled it out over 18 holes and no major upsets were made. In the Gold Division age group 18 years and below, hot favorite Vinod Weerasinghe had an easy win over Vihan De Alwis 6-5 and last year’s winner Prashan Peiris got the better of P. Sugumar of Kandy 5-3. In the bottom half Januka Dilshan beat M. Prashant 7-5 and T. Akash beat S. Flamin 2-1 also playing in the open category for the Rukmini Kodagoda trophy. In the Silver Division age group under 15 years top seed Taniya Balasuriya beat Januda  Jayasekera 6-4 and up and coming Haroon Aslam beat S. Duwarshan of Nuwara Eliya 7-6. In the other matches Dilshan Malinda beat Jithma Chamindri 5-3 and Himal Randima beat S. Sanju 5-3. The keenness shown in the Bronze division age group 12 years and below was encouraging to note with players like Nirekh Tejwani playing good golf to have a smashing win over Lidurshan 9-8. Another talented player Sherin Mithara showed grit by beating Damin Kotagama 5-3 who is a prospect for the future. K. Danushan had convincing wins over Vishagan of Nuwara Eliya to win his game 10-8. The prize distribution will be held on Thursday at 1.00 p.m. hosted by the sponsor Perera and Sons Bakers Ltd.