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by Sharm de Alwis

Boxing came alive with a two-fisted attack at the Indoor Stadium of the Sugathadasa Stadium. With so many schools participating, the programme had to be worked off over three nights.

It was pleasing to note many schools from the hinterlands now participate and the President of the Boxing Association, Mr. Thangavelu must have a big hand in matters and I am also aware that the husband/wife combination of Herbert and Naevena Embuldeniya has infused much adrenalin into the sport with expertise picked up in Canada where both of them served meritoriously in the sphere of Boxing.

Boxing at school level was allowed to languish in earlier years but now the pattern is changing. We can look forward to see good pugilistic fare where basic foot work, side-stepping, bobbing and weaving, feinting, blocking and slipping of punches, upper-cuts, right cross, straight left, pulverising hooks, the caboodle of this fine man-to-man combat game will be on show. Let's see better foot-work than at a cock fight. Perhaps, the ABA is on the verge of coaching coaches.

The array of young judges and stewards as opposed to the period when senile men in their 70's and 80's adjudicated was a promising start.

The Stubbs Shiled was won by Pilamatalauwe Central College with 29 points with Royal coming second with 25 points and Seevali Maha Vidyalaya, third with 24 points.

The Best Boxer at the Junior Weights was adjudged to be W.P.A.M. Wickramasinghe of Seevali with M.A.P.K. Jayakody of St. Sylvester's being the Best Loser. In the Senior Weights, P.D.M.D. Piyathileka of Pilimatalawe was the Best Boxer with K.A. Kumarasiri of Royal who gave the fight away despite having a longer reach, being declared the Best Loser.

A new shield was on offer to encourage more outstation schools to participate and this, the Shiya Cup, was won by M.H.M.S. Lakmal of Agrabodhi, Kantalai.

The organisers had restricted the rounds to only one minute, perhaps, mindful of the nutritional intake of the outstation participants. Their view was endorsed when more than one couple got into toe-to-toe slugging. One grave omission of the organisers must be mentioned. Media coverage must be sought and there will be more than Gamini Salgado, S.S. Perera and I to watch the proceedings.

The Kandy schools were well represented and it warmed the cockles of my heart to observe the home-town cheering for their schools. Schools Boxing today with head gear, heavier gloves and the mandatory count of 8 seconds is much safer than it used to be. It is a pity that Trinity which led the winning streak even after a break of ten years is not interested in this sport that also churns out better rugby players as has been proven by Henry Young. Michael Schokman, DLY Paktsun, Sena and Tony de Silva, Mahinda Ratwatte and a host of others.

It was also and to observe that St. Sylvester's which produced the Raymond, the Bulners, the Marshalls, Delpichitra, Lloyd Hope and Nimal Leuke was hardly in the frame, winning only one bout. 145 bouts were worked off over three nights and the good stewards who spared their time for the love of the sport should be given accolades in plenty.

One observation. The over-enthusiastic supporters often got their man to lose by too much extortion. It is not a rugger match. A boxer has to keep his cool. One axiom which I was taught was "Fight a boxer, box a fighter".

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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