Solders off to a flying start on day one - 82nd Boxing Nationals

Chinthana Wasala

Sri Lanka Army Boxers got off a great start wining most of the bouts they boxed at the 82nd National Boxing Championships for men and women organised by the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka at the Sugathadasa indoor stadium yesterday.

They are the defending men's champions after bagging that honour on 19 previous occasions.

A.S. Rajapakse, T.M.C. Tennakoon (Army-A), H.S.W.M. Karunaratne, I.R.Balasuriya, S.P.C.S. Jayathilake (Army-B), P.D.D. Maduranga (Army-C) recorded victories for Army Boxing Club.

Anuruddha Rathnayaka (Slimline-A), the quarter finalist at the recently concluded World Boxing championships in Chicago, USA, showed his brilliance when he outboxed Jayantha Kumara of Army-B 34-8 in a preliminary round bout of the Fly weight 51kgs.

Much fancied G.W.I. Chaturanga of Royal BC was knocked out by S.H. Gayan Kumara of Slimline-C when the scores were 16/12 in third round in their quarter final bout of Light fly wt.- 48kgs.

A.M Sisira Kumara (Police) overcame B.G.L. Kumara (Army-B) in a close fight in the Bantam weight - 54kgs quarter final bout.

A.B. Weeraparakrama (Air Force) also moved into the semi-finals when his opponent K.N. Jayakody (Army-A) retired in the first round.