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Chamil Wickramasinghe, who was a past student of the Ecole International School of Digana in Kandy and currently a short term student at the American College of Higher Education in Kandy is a promising golf player with an ambition to bring glory to Sri Lanka. He is still 19 and has already won many competitions, some of which are very rare such as his victories at both the Men’s Senior Gross Division and Nett Division Championships. At a recent encounter, Chamil confidently spoke high of his ambitious efforts to bring glory to Sri Lanka in the future.
“I entered the arena in the year of 2001. It was not by accident though it seems so, but once at the golf Club in Kandy, a foreign lady not known to me expressed her concern to see me playing golf there. At that time I was there with my father for one of his official matters. As I played, I saw that she was much keen on the strikes and later she invited me to take the membership of the golf club. Since then, a number of experts have helped me. Learning golf is very costly. But most of my coachers expressed themselves to train me totally free of charge. Among them were Mr.Kanesh Kumar and Mr. Sumith who are two unforgettable personalities to me.
My first match was the Milo Junior Open Championship at the Golf Club in Colombo. I achieved both Bronze Division Nett and Gross victories there. The match had been organized by the Sri Lanka Golf Union. The following year I became the Silver Division Winner of the same Championship, but at that time it had been organized by the Victoria Golf and Country Resort in Kandy.
My first major victory was at the Novices and Junior Challenge Tournament (12 – 14 years & 36 hole) organized by the Sri Lanka Golf Union at the Royal Colombo Golf Club in the year2004. I was the Winner of the Tournament.”
Chamil also became the winner of the junior division at the 10th annual Sri Lankan Air Line’s Golf Classic in 2005 in Kandy in which over 250 golfers participated from more than 15 countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Kuwait, India, United Kingdom, Bahrain, Dubai, Qatar and Switzerland.
“I won it with a nett score of 69. I t was the biggest Golf Championship held in Sri Lanka at that time and it went over for four days. There, I also was the Gentlemen’s Gross Division Runner-up.
I also won the Lectra Golf Title in2005 at the 12 round Lectra Golf Championship organized by the Victoria Golf and Country Resort in Kandy. It was held over a period of 12 months at the Victoria Golf Course at Rajawella,in Digana in Kandy. I became the winner of Men’s Nett Division. Then in the same year and the following year, I won the Captain’s Cup, the series played only by the members at the Golf Club in Nuwaraeliya. I also won the Division one of the Freedom Trophy sponsored by Sri Lanka Insurance and organized by the Nuwaraeliya Golf Club in April 2005.”
Later in 2006 I became the Gross Winner at the Milo Junior Championship organized by the VG & CR, held in Kandy. I also won the Sri Lankan Air Line’s NEGC tour in Nuwaraeliya in 2006 becoming the Men’s Overall and Group – ‘A’ Handicap Men’s Winner. I became the Men’s Winner at the Challenge Trophy of the same tournament. I was the best Gross Winner in both years 2006 and 2008 at the Swedish Classic held in Kandy.”
Chamil Wickramasinghe has also been recognized in the International Magazine Asian Golf in its May – 2008 issue.
“My first international tour was the Jakarta Asean Plus Junior Golf Championship – 2005 held in Indonesia. In the year 2005 again, I participated in the Chang – SAT World Junior Golf Masters held at the Imperial Lake View Hotel and Golf Club in Thailand. In the same year I also participated in the All India Junior Open Golf Championship in Poonai in India.”
Apart from his favourite and much ambitious cause for the game of Golf ,Chamil still continues in his studies expecting better standards for a better future.
“I am still studying targeting improving my professional skills. I am a frequent visitor and an amateur player at the Golf Club in Kandy even at this moment. Whether you like it or not this is a costly and an expensive game. It is better if I may have a sponsor to improve myself for a better game of Golf but despite all obstacles and hardships I would encounter, I am always strong in my spirit and confidence. My only ambition is to bring a gold medal one day to my country, Sri Lanka.”