All leading junior golfers are expected to participate in the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf tournament that will be played at the RCGC from January 2 to 4.
Reigning Junior champion Vinod Weerasinghe, who is currently in the USA is expected to return to the island in time to defend his title. Vinod, the top ranked junior has already won this prestigious event twice before and with the ongoing professional coaching he is receiving overseas is very heavily tipped to carry the title this year as well.
However, a quartet of young golfing talent namely the juniors S. Dhuwarshan, Aroon Aslam, Nirekh Tejwani and Yannik Kumara are expected to provide stiff competition to Vinod this year provided these talented youngsters are able to hold their nerve under pressure.
In the girls category top junior golfers Taniya Balasuriya and Kayla Perera are once again expected to fight tooth and nail for the title. Still in their mid -teens, the duo have enormous potential to go the full distance and evoke memories of past Sri Lankan greats such as Thuhashini Selvaratnam and Tiru Fernando. Provided they stay focused, both have the ability to perform well in the international circuits as well.
In the more junior categories K. Danushan, Shanal Binuksha, Levon Niyarepola, Reshan Algama, Sherin Balasuriya, Kavindha Samarasekera M. Lidhurshan, M.S Sanjey and C. Dharaniyan from Nuwara Eliya have been identified as the emerging talent and this event should provide them a golden opportunity to showcase their talents and play to their fullest potential. This event will once again be conducted according to four age group categories; 15-18 years (Gold Division), 12-14 years (Silver Division), 10 -11 years (Bronze Division) and 9 years and under (Copper Division).
The overall winner over the 18-hole events will be declared the Sri Lanka Junior National Golf Champion (Boys/Girls) for the year 2018.
This year too Prima Ceylon is sponsoring this most prestigious event for the 11th consecutive year with increased participation expected especially from the Kandy, Anuradhapura and Nuwara Eliya regions.
Organisers contend the popularity of the sport is growing mainly due to programs carried out by Sri Lanka Golf to propagate the sport at the grassroots.