Sports
Kaya and Dhanushan crowned 2022 Junior Golf Champs
SRI LANKA JUNIOR GOLF OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2022
Kaya Daluwatte led from start to finish to win the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship 2022, 28 strokes clear of the Gold & Silver combined division Age Group category for Girls from Sherin Mithara Balasooriya who snatched second place from Dhevinka Kanag-Iswaran with a final round 77, having trailed Dhevinka by 4 strokes going in to the final round. Kaya’s performance is outstanding completing the Junior Championship with another 1 under par 71 for a 3 round gross total of seven under par form 54 holes. An extremely impressive performance for the budding star fourteen-year lass, showing all the positive signs of going the distance as a lady Golfer to light-up the Ladies Professional Golf Tour and fly the Lankan flag high.
K. Dhanushan also led from the 1st round and maintained his lead throughout to secure the title as Junior Golf Champion Boys 2022, withstanding the mighty challenge of the defending champion Yannik Kumara and the RCGC Club Champion Nirekh Tejwani. The top 3 in the leader board of the 2022 Junior Boys Championship, Nirekh fired 7 Birdies and ended with an outstanding 3 under par gross 68. Yannik shot a 72, whilst Dhanushan held his nerve and displayed a cool attitude to end on Even Par 71 and win the Junior Boys Champ title for 2022 by a comfortable five strokes. Nirekh with his 3 under 68, managed to grab second place from Yannik Kumara 2 strokes ahead in 2nd place.
Reshan Algama continued his skillful Golf and crafted a brilliant six under par in the final round for a 54 hole aggregate of 206, a total of seven under par gross to be crowned the unchallenged silver division champ, 24 strokes clear of the runner-up Thejas Rathis Kanth on 230 edging out Adithya Weerasinghe from Anuradhapura who secured a creditable 3rd place from Jacob Norton 8 strokes further behind in 4th place.
In the Bronze division Kaitlyn Norton held on to her lead after 2 rounds to win the 10-11+ age group category by 3 strokes from Saqeeb Zuhar followed by Anuja Methsara of Anuradhapura Academy further 2 strokes behind in 3rd place.
Revaan Amarasinghe playing consistent golf also led the Copper division from the start to finish and crowned the copper division champion with a 3 round (9 hole) total of 120, 11 strokes clear of 2nd placed Yuvan Rathis Kanth on 131 and 3rd placed Danik Daluwatte on 142.
Overall, the standard of golf was above average, whilst the top 3 boys and the girls winnesr in the Gold division and Reshan Algama the Silver Champ, were head and shoulders above the rest. However, there was a lot of talent unearthed with the juniors from Anuradhapura Academy making steady progress in a relatively short period of play. The advent of students from Ananda College in to competitive golf and some talented kids in the Copper division age group category of 9 & under performing creditably in their very first tournament augurs well for the future.
The three rounds of enthralling golf were capped off by an encouraging prize giving enriched by PRIMA SUNRISE BREAD the principal sponsor of the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship 2022. The sponsors were represented by Sajith Guneratne as the guest of honour. The Chief Guest was Suresh Subramaniam President of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka.
President Sri Lanka Golf Michael Magala expressed his appreciation to Prima Sunrise bread for the continuous support of the premier junior Golf Open Championship. Chief Guest Suresh Subramaniam thanked all parents for supporting their children to play golf. Speaking on he said that the Youth Olympic Games in 2026 should be the target to train the youth of today and win medals for Sri Lanka. Niloo Jayathilaka Chairperson of Sri Lanka Junior Golf said that the standard of golf displayed was excellent and the talent of the new juniors is a welcome breath of fresh air and she commended the many sponsors who came forward to promote golf especially in Anuradhapura and among other school students too.
The final week of the year is like a Roman feast for the Test cricket fan, and Boxing Day this year promises mouth-watering contests in Melbourne and Centurion but look this way too, will you? Bulawayo is set to host Zimbabwe’s first Boxing Day Test 8n 28 years too, and with unpredictable Afghanistan on the other side, a real tussle is expected between the two teams, who despite their recent underwhelming performances, would feel like they’re favourites. After all, the last time either side won a Test was against each other.
But that was way back 8n 2021. Since then, they have not found a way to win. And one look at the Zimbabwe and Afghanistan squads for this two-Test series suggests that they’re both looking to change that by taking a different direction for 2025 and beyond. A splattering of Test debutants are expected – theoretically, there could be as many 15 debuts across the two XIs – and this series could very well be the one that births a new generation.
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Mahinda College, Galle took firm control of their two-day Under 19 Division I Tier ‘B’ cricket encounter as they reached 213 for nine wickets at stumps after restricting Moratu Vidyalaya to 96 runs at Galle on Wednesday.
After Arosha Udayanga grabbed five wickets to trouble the visitors, the home team topped 200 runs thanks to a century by open batsman Dulsith Darshana and a half century by Senuka Dangamuwa.
While Darshana scored 13 fours and a six in his 106 which came in 143 balls, Dangamuwa hammered nine fours and a six in his 50 which came in 51 balls.
Mahinda are in search of their first outright victory in the tournament proper after having earned first innings points in two out of the three matches in their group.
Moratu Vidyalaya too have completed three matches and have scored first innings points on one occasion.
Scores
Moratu Vidyalaya
96 all out in 45.2 overs (Sanjana Senavirathna 31, Shehara Fernando 20; Arosha Udayanga 5/35)
Mahinda
213 for 9 in 52 overs (Dulsith Darshana 106, Senuka Dangamuwa 50; Isuru Nidharshana 2/64, Nishitha Fernando 5/45)
by Reemus Fernando
Sri Lanka Athletics has suspended track and field official S. W. Nimalsiri for four years after a three member committee appointed by the sports governing body found him guilty of manhandling leading athletic official G.L.S. Perera within the Sri Lanka Athletics premises in Torrington.
“The executive committee of Sri Lanka Athletics decided to hand Nimalsiri a four year suspension after the three member committee concluded that he was guilty of manhandling the respected official,” Saman Kumara Gunawardhana, the secretary of Sri Lanka Athletics told The Island.
At the time of the suspension Nimalairi was a committee member of Sri Lanka Athletics and is the president of the Ace Athletics Club and secretary of the Colombo District Athletics Association.
The three member committee that inquired the incident involving Nimalairi and Perera was headed by retired district court judge Upali Samaraweera. Others in the committee were former director of sports Padma Siriwardana and disciplinary committee chairman of Sri Lanka Athletics Chandana Ekanayake.
Nimalsiri has also been suspended from officiating in track and field competitions.
Winless in three years, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan set for rare Boxing Day Test
Fair weather except for a few showers in Northern and Eastern provinces
Most bribery cases fall through owing to CIABOC’s lapses
-
Sports6 days agoSri Lanka to mend fences with veterans
-
Sports4 days agoPathirana set to sling his way into Kiwi hearts
-
Opinion6 days agoIs AKD following LKY?
-
News2 days agoOffice of CDS likely to be scrapped; top defence changes on the cards
-
News5 days agoSL issues USD 10.4 bn macro-linked bonds
-
Opinion6 days ago‘A degree is not a title’ – a response
-
Editorial5 days agoRanil’s advice
-
Editorial6 days agoLest watchdogs should become lapdogs