Lankan boxing novices fail to make impact

Philippines dominated the second stage of the inaugural dual boxing contest against Sri Lanka organisd by the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka and worked off at the Slimline gymnasium in Pannala yesterday.

The Lankans of course rested their more experienced boxers and brought in a couple of newcomers in an attempt to give them the maximum international exposure. However none of them failed to make an impact and were beaten at the hands of their more fancied opponents.

The only consolation for Sri Lanka was that the promising Manju Wanniarachchi and Kamal Sameera won their respective bouts quite convincingly. Wanniarachchi had the better of Ronaldo Magbanua 27-13 in the 54 kg bantam weight while Sameera outscored Francis Catamura 26-6 in the 57 kg feather weight category event.

However Harsha Kumara who replaced Nayanajith Alexander in the 48 kg light fly weight category event was beaten by Albert Fabila quite comprehensively. Another newcomer K. Kandanarachchi who replaced W. M. R. Wekadapola in the 64 kg light welter weight bout suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Florencio Ferrer.

In addition K. Jayasundera who replaced Upali Bandara in the 60 kg light weight bout lost to Genebert Basader while S. P. Kumara who replaced Anuruddha Ratnayake in the 51 kg fly weight category event went down to Junel Cantancio 43-27.

The Sri Lankan women's team also put up a disappointing performance losing all four bouts. Chandrika Guruge who won the 46 kg light fly weight event during the first stage at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Friday went down to her opponent Josie Gabuco 19-21 following another exciting contest.

In addition Anusha Kodituwakku (48 kg fly weight), Nilmini Jayasinghe (50 kg bantam weight) and Niluka Karunaratne (52 kgs feather weight) all lost their bouts to Analiza Cruz, Alice Kate Aparri and Annie Albania respectively.