The Annual Sri Lanka Junior Match Play Golf Championship is all set to take place at the Royal Colombo Golf Club from the 18th to the 21st April 2016.
Perera & Sons Bakers Ltd has sponsored this event since its inception in 2014, and will continue to do so in 2016 as well. The tournament is to be played in the popular match play format, which is one of a kind, with the winner of the overall championship carrying away the Rukmini Kodagoda Challenge Trophy. An interesting introduction is that the qualifying medal round of this event will be a designated round for the National Junior rankings for the year 2016.
The tournament will be played over four days and under 4 categories: 15 – 17 years (Overall / Gold Division), 12 – 14 years (Silver Division), 10 – 11 years (Bronze Division) and 9 years and under (Copper Division). The recent addition of the Copper division is mainly due to the Sri Lanka Golf Union, which is focused on developing a young pool of golfers below 14 years. The tournament will be based off a qualifying stroke play round in which the top eight players move forwards to the match play knockout round. There will be many prizes up for grabs such as the Best Gross Score on the qualifying round and plate winner for the non – qualifiers on day two best gross score.
Last year’s event saw Prashan Pieris winning the Gold Division, Tania Balasuriya winning the Silver Division, Levon Niyarepola winning the Bronze Division and Yanik Kumara winning the Copper Division. However this year these youngsters are set to face a stiff challenge from the likes of Armand Flamer Caldera, D. Dhanranjan, S. Flamin, Januka Dilshan, Tien Kapilasena, Nirekh Tejwani and Sathsara Dilshan in their respective age groups.
The Sri Lanka Junior Match Play Golf Championship is a tournament dedicated to the late Rukmini Kodagoda. Ruki, as she was popularly known was a greatly talented sportswoman who represented Sri Lanka in not only Golf, but Tennis as well. She has won numerous National Titles and Championships in both sports including the Sri Lanka Amateur Championship in Golf in 1979. She also held the prestigious position of Chairman Sri Lanka Ladies Golf Union in 1990 and 1991 and Captain of the Ladies Section of the Royal Colombo Golf Club. Thus, the junior match play championship is a fitting tribute to this great lady.
Mr. Gihan Perera who is the CEO / Managing Director of Perera & Sons Bakers Ltd which is the family company of late Rukmini Kodagoda, said that the company is committed to the development of both golf and tennis and is looking to give an opportunity to the junior players emerging from the outstations. He firmly believes that there is a lot of hidden talent outside of Colombo, which needs to be unearthed through events such as these. P&S whose service promise is, ‘Great Taste’ have come forward once again to give a great taste of Golf to youngsters in this country.
