Five countries, including Bangladesh and Malaysia, have confirmed their participation at the 132nd Sri Lanka Amateur Men’s Open Golf Championship that will be worked off at the Nuwara Eliya Golf course from March 22 to 28.
The Sri Lanka Women’s Amateur Golf Championship too will be worked off concurrently and as expected these five countries will bring along their two leading women golfers too.
These two championships will be conducted by Sri Lanka Golf (SLG), the governing body for golf in the country. They held a media briefing at the Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) on Friday (4) to reveal about the numerous events that are lined up for the year.
SLG intends to select four men and two women golfers to participate at the Asian Games to be held in September in China. Already the national development and emerging squads are in training at the RCGC, Nuwara Eliya Golf Club and the Victoria Golf and Country Club under the supervision of the assistant national coach.
They will also undergo physical and mental training sessions under the supervision of a Sports Ministry accredited coach. These golfers are put through the rigors of these training sessions, despite limited facilities, with intentions to winning medals at the top level.
SLG has started a Ranking Tournament every month to select these men and women golfers to represent Sri Lanka at the Asian Games. As there is no barrier between amateur and professional status they will be available for selection. Already Sri Lanka’s pros have impressed at this Ranking Tournaments and will likely qualify for selection.
“The Sri Lanka Amateur golf tournament began in 1889 and the trophy has been won by well known Sri Lanka golfers like Pin Fernando, Anura Rohana and Nandasena Perera many times,” said Michael Magala Perera the president of SLG.
Sri Lanka Golf also plans to enter a junior boy and a girl to participate at the 150th Junior Open in Scotland that is to be held in May 2022. This event will be held alongside the prestigious 150th British Open at St. Andrews. Trials are underway to select the pair of junior golfers. This will offer encouragement for the young hopefuls to achieve greater heights in the game that has no age limits.