Rehman wins Amateur Golf title

Kandy Sports Correspondent

Twenty-year old Bangladeshi and the reigning All India Champion dimunitive Siddiq-ur-Rehman won the 118th Sri Lanka Amateur Golf Championship while Sri Lanka won the Parlakamedi Trophy for National team event and also the Zia-ul-Haqq trophy at the 118th Sri Lanka Amateur Golf Championship worked off for a four days.

It was organised by the Victoria Golf and Country Resort on behalf of the Sri Lanka Golf Union and co-sponsored by United Tractors Limited and CML Edward Construction Limited and supported by Seania, Devion, Union Assurance and Le Fargo and worked off at the picturesque Victoria golf course at Rajawella off Kandy.

It was a superlative performance by the reigning all India Amateur Champion Siddiq-ur-Rehman from Bangladesh who provided in wet and trying conditions in the last round of the championship, when he just managed to pip Sri Lanka's skipper Kandasamy Prabakaran by a single stroke.

The long 6945 yard Par 73 was definitely a challenge with the greens well prepared but the golfers found it a lot tricky and difficult to road. The scores recorded by the golfers reflect the degree of difficulty as the winner registered a four round total of 292.

The runner-up K. Prabakaran was one over Par on 293. The best single round gross score recorded was 3 under Par by Sri Lankan skipper Prabakaran, India Gagan Verma and Chirag Kumar also from India. Sri Lanka wrested the Zia-ul-Haqq trophy from Pakistan by defeating them 235 with an excellent performance by Kandasamy Pabakaran and Mithun Perera.

Sri Lanka who appeared to play well as a team also won the Parlakamedi Trophy for the national teams when the Sri Lanka 'Blue' recorded a gross 292 to romp home easy winners with the runner-up Bangladesh getting gross 308 by 16 strokes. Here again the Sri Lankan pair of K. Prabakaran and Mithun Perera put up a fine performance to push back the Bangladeshi pair of Siddiq-ur-Rehman and Hessain Mea. India finished third.

With the Ladies event being won by Thuhashani Selvaratnam and the runner-up berth going to Jackie Dias, Sri Lanka golfers did extremely well and it was just bad luck which deprived Sri Lanka from lifting the plum. A better display in the third round by Prabakaran could have brought him the title which he won in 2003.