The National Olympic Committee has objected to the suggestions made by the Boxing Association of Sri Lanka to pick 12 boxers for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia 2017 as Sri Lanka will be fielding only 55 competitors for the games.
At a meeting held at the Sports Ministry presided over by Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara, the President of the Boxing Association of Sri Lanka (ABASL) Dian Gomes has suggested that more boxers should be included in the squad as they have a good chance of winning medals, but the secretary of the NOC Maxwell de Silva has said that they should not be given preference as Sri Lanka has received only 55 slots compared to 104 at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.
De Silva has pointed out that in recent Commonwealth games weightlifters, athletes and pistol shooters have won more medals than boxers so that boxers should not be given preferential treatment.
Although Manju Wanniarachchi won a gold medal in Bantamweight 56 kg category at the 2010 Commonwealth games in New Delhi by beating Wales’ Shane McGoldrick he was disqualified later as he was found guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs.
Four years later in Glasgow games except for Anuruddha Ratnayake, Maduranga Pathirage and Shiromala Wickremesinghe all other boxers were knocked out in the first round. In the 2014 games, all ten boxers who represented Sri Lanka could not win a single medal but the President of BASL Dian Gomes said that this year at least five boxers could win medals for Sri Lanka in Gold Coast, Australia.
The Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera has given instructions to select all the competitors by September, 2017 for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in Australia so that they can be given training by foreign coaches in preparation for the games.
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