Sanjay - Victoria Junior golf champion

S. M. Jiffrey ABDEEN, Kandy Sports correspondent

GOLF: Sixteen year old Sanjay Wettimuny son of former Sri Lanka cricketer and selector became the Victoria Junior Champion at the Victoria Open Junior golf championship organised by the Victora Golf and Country Resort and worked off at the Victoria golf course at Rajawella off Kandy over the week-end.

A good number of young golfers participated in this golf championship for the youngsters under the age of 18 and played in three divisions in keeping with the age groups.

In fact the organisers Victoria Golf and Country Resort organised a three day event for the youngsters. First on Friday it was a golf clinic where the little ones were drilled and given a thorough training on a basics of golf and they were given an insight into the finer points of the game and the tactics required to get over a tight situation.

The young golfers enjoyed it and also benefitted much from it as it was their stepping stone towards their golfing career.

The Victoria Junior Open golf championship conducted for the eight year in succession was a grand success. Sanjay Wettimuni playing to a handicap of five in the Gold Division recorded a gross 79 in the first round and a gross 78 in the second round on a very difficult and challenging course.

The runner up Chamil Wickremasinghe another budding golfer from Victoria was just two strokes behind making a total of gross 159 against Sanjay Wettimuni’s total gross score of 157. Chamil Wickremasinghe got 80 gross in the first round and followed up with 79 gross in the second.

The Gold Division Net category was won by caddie Indika Saman with a total net score of 146 and taking the runner up berth was Avinesh Nareshkumar of Royal Colombo Golf Club with a total Net score of 154.

The gross category of the Silver Divison was won by little Dhanika de Silva with a gross score of 173. Dhanika de Silva, the son of the famous Economist Harsha de Silva got a gross 90 in the first round playing to a handicap of 25 and followed up with a good 83 in the second. A very good performance by this young golfer who is around 13 years.

The Silver Division Net category was won by Chanel Ratnam with a net score of 154.

The Bronze Division category was won by 11 year old Sachin de Silva son of the famous golfer Usha de Silva. Sachin de Silva got a total net score of 152. Playing to a handicap of 18, he got 76 net in the first round and a similar score of 76 in the second.

The Novice Division won by little Tharin Wanigasekera and the title for the Mini Division was carried away by Prashan Peiris.

Golfers from Victoria Ms Pauline Morley, Ms Sonia Boyle and Carl Kelaart presented the awards to the winners while Marketing Manager Lalindra Ranaweera acted as the Master of Ceremonies.

The results:

Novice Division: Champion - Charin Wanigasekera, Runner-up: Piyal Amarasinghe.

Mini Division: Winner - Prashan Peiris.

Bronze Division: Champion - Sachin de Silva - 152 net.

Silver Division: Gross winner: Dhanika de Silva, Net Winner - Chanel Ratnam.

Gold Division: Net Winner - Indika Saman - 159 gross, Net Runner up: Avinesh Nareshkumar - 154 net.

Gold Division: Gross Winner - Sanjay Wettimuni - 157 gross, Gross Runner up: Chamil Wickremasinghe - 159 gross.

Victoria Junior Champion: Sanjay Wettimuny.