Alain Gyi the gross event winner with his trophy and award gets a pat on the back from SriLankan Airlines CEO Peter Hill.

Yashihato Sato the men’s champion drives off the tee.

Usha de Silva the Ladies’ champion.

Hafiz Marikar reporting from Kandy
After two days of excitement Japan’s Yashihato Sato and Usha de Silva won the men’s and women’s titles respectively at the 6th Sri Lankan Airlines Golf Classic Championship, which was worked off at the Victoria Golf Course at Rajawella in Digana last weekend.

It was excellent golfing in the hills, where for the second time the SriLankan Airlines sponsored championship was worked off to perfection. Over 142 golfers from SriLanka and abroad participated in the event and vied for the 14 air tickets and crystal trophies offered by SriLankan Airlines.

A big hand should go to SriLankan Airlines Promotions Manager Corporate Communications Kaushal Seneviratne for an excellent job done and also Ruwini Jayasinghe for her co-ordination with the media.

According to Kaushal Seneviratne, four of the six events were worked off in Colombo and Nuwara Eliya with the last two in Kandy, which came for high praise especially the foreign participants.

This Classic Golf Tournament takes place every October, and next year the organisers expect wider participation.

The event was held under the patronage of Peter Hill, C.E.O., SriLankan Airlines.

Carlsberg, MTV, Yes FM, Pepsi, Victoria Golf Club and Hem Tours were the co-sponsors and the participants were housed at Mahaweli Reach Hotel.

The green at this venue looked a picture with an 18 hole golf course, which covers about 7000 yards and could be rated as the best in the country.

While on the game proper, Yashihato Sato collected 82 points to take the men’s event, while Sri Lanka’s Usha de Silva took the women’s event with 72 points.

Alain Gyi snatched the gross points title in the men’s group with 58 points, and in the ladies event it was Suwen Selvaratnam who scored 54 points.

Murad Ismail in his own style was the longest putter clearing 273 yards; while in the ladies group it was Anusha Senadira with a distance of 230 yards.

The results:

Men’s

Champion — Yashihato Sato (83 points).

(Nett Points Runners-up) Nigel Coomarasamy, Rohan de Silva and Tony Arnolda (72 points each).

(Gross Winner) — Alain Gyi (58 points)

(Gross 1st runner-up) — Yashihato Sato (58 points)

(Gross 2nd runner-up) — Amrith de Soysa (53 points)

(Callaway Winner) — Robert Ward (74 points)

(Nearest to the Pin Hole) Alain Gyi

(Seniors) — Tony Arnolda (72 points) — (Juniors) Amrith de Soysa.

(Longest Drive)

1. Murad Ismail (273 yards).

2. Alain Gyi (265 yards).

3. S. W. Kang (235 yards).

Ladies

(Nett points champion) — Usha de Silva (72 points)

(Nett Points 1st runner-up) — Suwen Selvaratnam (70 points)

(Nett Points 2nd runner-up) — Nonita Chand (68 points)

(Nearest to the pin hole) — Padmini Arnolda.

(Gross points champion) — Suwen Selvaratnam (54 points)

(Gross points 1st runner-up) — Nonita Chand (52 points)

(Gross points 2nd runner-up) — Patricia Walkigshaw (44 points)

(Longest Drive) — Anusha Senadeera (230 yards).