Mixed fortunes for Lankan boxers
 

BY CHRIS Dhambarage

SRI LANKAN boxers experienced mixed fortunes at the inaugural dual boxing contest against the Philippines organised by the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka and worked off at the Sugathadasa indoor stadium yesterday.

The Sri Lankan men's team put up an impressive performance to win four bouts out of six events while the women's team disappointed winning just a solitary gold medal from the four events that were worked off.

The best effort probably came from the promising Kamal Sameera of Slimline Boxing Club who knocked out his more fancied opponent Francis Catamura in the 57 kg feather weight category event.

Sameera's dominance was so much that he won the bout by a convincing margin of 21 points to nil with the referee deciding to stop the contest in the second round.

This was also the first gold medal for Sameera in his career having earlier won a silver medal at the South Asian Federation Games in Pakistan and a bronze medal at the President's Cup meet in Indonesia last year.

The former schoolboy of Seevali MMV Ratnapura and the national champion in this weight category completely outclassed his opponent with a series of punches that put him right on top of this contest.

Upali Bandara put up an equally brilliant performance to win the 60 kg light weight category event following an exciting contest against Genebert Basadre which went the full distance. Bandara eventually edged out his opponent by a solitary point winning by 21 points to 20 at the end.

Bandara a product of Vidyartha College Kandy and the National champion in this weight category got off to a spectacular start and almost knocked out his opponent with a powerful punch that put his opponent on the ground during the first round.

However Genebert Basadre recovered well after the count and kept his hopes alive with an improved performance during the next two rounds. This was the first medal for Bandara having earlier represented Sri Lanka at international meets in Indonesia, Nepal and Thailand without any success.

Sri Lanka's success was completed by Anuruddha Ratnayake and Manju Wanniarachchi who won their respective bouts by convincing margins. Ratnayake outclassed Junel Cantancio 21-9 in the 51 kg fly weight category event while Wanniarachchi had the better of Ronoldo Magbanua 35-17 in the 54 kg bantam weight category event.

Earlier Nayanajith Alexander lost to Albert Fabilia 17-34 in the 48 kg light fly weight event and W. M. R. Wekadapola went down to Florencio Ferrer 12-18 in the 64 kg light welter weight event.

Chandrika Guruge of Sri Lanka Army BC was the only boxer to win a medal in the women's events as she outscored Josie Gabuco 14-7 on points. Earlier Nilmini Jayasinghe, Niluka Karunaratne and Anusha Kodituwakku all lost their bouts against Kate Aparri, Annie Albania and Analiza Cruz respectively.