Sri Lanka Junior Match Play Golf Championship 2017 sees second day of action

The match play segment of the Sri Lanka Junior Match Play Golf Championship 2017 for the Rukmini Kodagoda Trophy commenced with players showing much excitement given the knockout format.

The tournament is played in four age group categories : 15-18 years (Overall/Gold Division), 12-14 years (Silver Division), 10-11years (Bronze Division) and nine years and under (Copper Division). 

The winner of the overall girls’ and boys’ championship will carry away the Rukmini Kodagoda Trophy donated by her family in her memory. Kodagoda was one of Sri Lanka’s most talented sportswomen, a national champion at both tennis and golf. 

In the Open/Gold Division age group under 19 years, the quarterfinalist battled it out over 18 holes and no major upsets were made. Top seed T. Akash had an easy win over M. Prasath (VGCR) 7/5 and last year’s winner Vinod Weerasinghe got the better of Januka Dilshan 1 up. Armand Flamer Caldera was given a fight, being taken to the 20th hole by R. Sugumar of Kandy and Vihan De Alwis beat Dilip Kumar easily 4/3, playing in the open category for the Rukmini Kodagoda Trophy. 

In the Girls’ Open category Binaara Dias beat M. Premika 3/2 and Kiyara Dunuwilla beat Hiruni Devindi 6/5, to book a semifinal berth.

In the Silver Division age group under 15 years, top seed Dilshan Malinda beat Amrik Perera 8/7 and S.D.M Hirushan beat T. Vikash 3/1. In the other matches Haroon Aslam (VGCR) beat Himal Randima 5/4 and S. Dhuwarshan (NEGC) beat Isuru Praneeth 6/5. The keenness and talent shown in the Bronze Division age group 12 years and below was encouraging to note with players like Yannik Kumara playing good golf to have a smashing win over Pranav Muralidaran 6/4. Another talented player Nirekh Tejwani showed grit by beating M.S. Sanjay (NEGC) 7/6. K. Danushan had convincing wins over L. Lidhurshan of Nuwara Eliya to win his game 6/5. Much was expected of Sherin Mithara but young Shanal Binuksha beat her 4/2. 

The semifinal games will be played tomorrow and the prize distribution will be held on Friday hosted by the competition’s sponsor Perera and Sons Bakers Ltd.