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| Sunday, 8 December 2002 |
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Anura Rohana defends B'desh Open golf title by LAL GUNESEKERA Anura Rohana who brought honour to the country by winning a silver medal at the recent Asian Games in Busan, South Korea will defend his title at the Bangladesh Open Amateur Golf Championship to be staged in Dhaka from December 11 to 14. This is next year's tournament, as the organisers won't have a tourney in 2003. The President of the Sri Lanka Golf Union (SLGU), Shiran de Soysa told the Sunday Observer that Rohana who first won in Dhaka in 1999 repeated this feat earlier this year and was an automatic choice. Two other golfers too will tee up for Sri Lanka. They are Lalith Kumara and Amarapathma. De Soysa also said that the three Sri Lankan teenagers who competed at the recent All-India Junior Amateur Championship in Bangalore were "rather disappointing". Amrith de Soysa finished 11th in the under-17 category - 21 shots behind the winner, while Mithun Nandasena ended up 21st in the same age category. Then in the under-15 age group, 12-year-old Binupa Wijesinghe was eighth. He said: De Soysa won the under-15 age category at the All-India Junior in Calcutta earlier this year where he finished 8th in the under-18 age group. He failed this time. For Mithun, it was his first overseas exposure. The three players' air tickets were provided by SriLankan Airlines. The Sri Lanka Junior Open Championship has been revived after seven years and is scheduled to take place on December 16, 17 and 18 on the Ridgeways of the Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) sponsored by Milo. Following in the international system, the SLGU are conducting it in two age categories - 15 to 17 years and 13 to 15 years and nearly 75 players are expected to enter. Henk Stevens is being sent by R & A (Royal and Ancient) again to Sri Lanka on a coaching assignment in late January or February next year (2003) and he is keen to stay for a longer period than the previous occasion. The SLGU will draw up his programme, but this time, Stevens, is expected to spend more time with the seniors in addition to the juniors. He is also expected to impart his knowledge to some Sri Lankan coaches, including Pheroze Billimoria who is attached to RCGC and Ajith Nishantha who is at Victoria Golf Club. The SLGU are also trying to get one tournament of the Association of Professional Golfers (APGA) to be staged in Sri Lanka in 2004. The staging of the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Team and Individual Championship to be held in Sri Lanka next year is yet "in the balance" due to financial reasons as the SLGU needs at least Rs. 4 million to conduct the event. The countries that are to take part are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. |
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