Manju lose on points, wins silver

Sri Lanka’s Manju Wanniarachchi created a piece of history when he bagged a silver medal out of 21 nations at the Fifth Commonwealth Games boxing championships which concluded in New Delhi, India yesterday.

Wanniarachchi went down fighting on points in the bantam weight under 56 kg weight class final against the favourite Ian Weaver from England.

This was easily the best performance for Wanniarachchi since 2005 where he clinched the gold medal at the dual meet against Philippines followed by a silver medal in the Kings Cup tournament in Thailand.

He had earlier won two gold medals at the dual meet against India in 1995 and at the Invitation meet in India in 2004.

The countries that participated were South Africa, Ghana, Nauru, Lesotho, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius, Sierra Leone and Botswana. The Asian region comprised five countries India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Singapore.

England, Wales, Scotland, New Zealand, Samoa and the Bahamas make up the rest. Altogether five Sri Lankan boxers represented the country at the meet with B. D. Suresh winning a silver medal in the 52 kg weight class event.