Vinod Weerasinghe will lead team Sri Lanka at the HSBC Junior International Golf Championship 2018, scheduled to kick off tomorrow at the Royal Colombo Golf Club.
Sri Lanka Golf (SLG), the national body for Golf in Sri Lanka together with HSBC will host for the second year running the international junior golf championship to be played among the countries in the region; Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India. Sri Lanka won the inaugural tournament played last year beating Pakistan in a cliff hanger.
This year Malaysia too have entered a two-member team and it is hoped that they would send a full contingent next year to further increase the Asian participation
This event which was created to offer a platform for our juniors to compete among the best in the Indian sub-continent and Asia, was the brainchild of the SLG Junior Sub Committee and was conceived with the singular aim of raising the standard of the sport in the country. The format structured on a hybrid version of similar international team events played worldwide such as Asia Pacific Golf Team Championship and the Ryder Cup in the USA.
Each of the countries will field a team comprising of 2 boys and 2 girls.
The Sri Lankan team was selected by the national golf selectors headed by Captain Navin de Silva. Current Sri Lanka Junior boys champion Vinod Weerasinghe of British School has been picked to lead Sri Lanka, whilst the team also includes 18 year old Armand Flamer Caldera of S Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia who is currently ranked No.2 nationally and who has also represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Championship in Sailing.
The two girls on the team are 16-year-old Taniya Balasuriya of Sri Jayawardenapura Girls School, Kotte and 15 year old Kayla Perera of Ladies’ College. Both have considerable international exposure having participated in many overseas golf events.
Preceding the International team championship, an individual event will be open to current junior golfers in the country on August 1st, which is also to be played at the Royal Colombo Golf Club.
This will be based on four age groups and categorized as; 15-18+ years (Gold Division), 12-14+ years (Silver Division), 10 -11+ years (Bronze Division) and 9 years and under (Copper Division).
The HSBC Junior International Golf championship is supported by several prestigious event partners.
Cinnamon Life is the hospitality partner and the will host all the international teams whilst MAS Kreeda, the Apparel partner have generously provided sportswear for the grass root programme.
IMORICH from Elephant House has come forward as the indulgence partner.
In addition, Olu water will support the event as the official beverage with Callaway Golf, the renowned Golf brand as the equipment sponsor.
