Layton Cup Boxing to produce high standards

Chris Dhambarage

BOXING: The cream of the Sri Lankan boxers will be vying for honours in eleven different weight categories when the Layton Cup boxing meet organised and conducted by the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka gets underway at the Sugathadasa indoor stadium this evening.

This years meet will be of great significance as it will also serve as the final trial to select the Sri Lanka squad for the South Asian Games to be staged in August this year. In addition the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka is planning to select two separate squads in preparation for two international tournaments which will be held later this year.

Sri Lanka are expected to field a second string team for the President's Cup tournament in Pakistan and for another invitation tournament to be hosted by Indonesia during the same period. This will help the youngsters to compete against some of the top boxers and they are also certain of gaining valuable international exposure.

This years Layton Cup meet should turn out to be an exciting contest between the two main contenders Sri Lanka Army BC and Slimline BC. In fact Samantha Indika Kumara from Slimline BC put up a spectacular performance to win the Layton Cup last year. R. M. M. Bandara of Sri Lanka Police BC was named as the best loser at last years meet.

Sri Lanka Army BC with a number of top boxers will be one of the strong contenders and they will be challenged by Sri Lanka Navy BC, Sri Lanka Police BC, Unichela, Seevali BC, Kalutara BC, Veyangoda BC, Nugegoda BC, Vidyartha BC, Kingswood BC and YMCA Kandy.

Meanwhile an eight member Sri Lanka squad will leave the country today to compete at the Vietnam open women's championships and the Cadet championships to be worked off from June 10 to 18 in Ho Cho Min City.

The Sri Lanka women's boxing team will include the cream of the national players namely L. G. Chandrika (Sri Lanka Army), C. D. Kodituwakku (Slimline), A. N. K. Jayasinghe (Slimline), M. N. Susanthika (Sri Lanka Army) and S. M. Senanayake (Slimline).

The Sri Lanka women's team will be coached by Wasantha Kumara with Mrs. N. Embuldeniya as the manager and H. S. Embuldeniya as the assistant manager.

The Sri Lanka Cadet boxing team will comprise of three promising schoolboys W. A. K. Fernando of Vidyarathne Horana, A. T. Anuranga from Royal College and W. J. Surendra of Seevali MMV Ratnapura. The team will be coached by K. A. T. Tissera with W. M. R. Wekadapola as the manager.