Slimline hopes to retain Clifford Cup

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Slimline BC Pannala will be hoping to retain the Clifford Cup for the second successive year when the 81st boxing championships conducted by the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) of Sri Lanka gets underway on Saturday at the Sugathadasa indoor stadium in Colombo.

Slimline BC edged out their arch rivals Sri Lanka Army BC by a solitary point in last years tournament and once again they are favoured to steal the limelight in this annual meet which will conclude on October 30.

This years meet will be of great significance because it will also serve as the final trial to select the Sri Lanka men's and the women's teams for the inaugural boxing dual against Russia which is scheduled to take place on October 25 at the same venue.

In addition Anurudda Ratnayake will be making his first appearance following his unsuccessful Olympic campaign in Beijing, China and will be representing Slimline BC together with a host of many top boxers.

Manju Wannirachchi, Kamal Sameera, Wekadapola, S. I. Kumara, N. W. Tharanga and Nishantha Samaranayake are some of the other boxers who are expected to put up a good performance.

Slimline BC will certainly receive the biggest challenge from Sri Lanka Army BC who will be out to avenge their last years setback. The Army BC team will include a 20 member strong squad and are brimming with confidence after having clinched the Layton Cup meet recently.

Slimline BC of course will miss the services of promising boxer Laleesha Kahatapitiya who is currently in Cuba on a training programme.

In fact Kahatapitiya put up a pleasing performance at last years Clifford Cup meet where he was picked as the best loser.

G. W. I. Chaturanga from Royal BC won the best boxers award last year and will be looking for a repeat performance. Sri Lanka Air Force BC, Sri Lanka Police BC, Nugegoda BC, Kalutara BC, Vidyaratne BC Horana, Ratnapura BC, Veyangoda BC and Negombo BC are some of the other clubs who are vying for honours.

Altogether over three hundred competitors from 25 teams will participate in eleven different weight categories. Meanwhile the women's championship will also be worked off during the same period at the same venue.

However some of the top boxers will be out from this meet as most of them are currently participating in the Asian women's championships in India which will be worked off until October 28.

Slimline BC will be hampered following the absence of their most experienced boxers Anusha Kodituwakku and Nilmini Jayasinghe while Sri Lanka Army BC will be minus Chandrika Guruge and Niluka Karunaratne.