Royal-Trinity Boxing Dual after 50 years

Priantha Malavi and Sharm de Alwis

Chronicling the history of a sport which has a rich tradition at Royal College is to record for posterity the epoch making events and displays of technique and ring-craft, particularly those of World War I vintage, the years 1914 and after.

Men whose pioneering efforts helped produce many able bodied sons of our native soil, who distinguished themselves in various spheres of sport and life; those torch bearers who kept the aflame burning bright against tremendous odds. To encapsulate all this in a brief article would be a herculean task and this account tries, therefore only to record the highlights in the 97 year old boxing history of Royal.

The first Ceylonese and the first Royalist to make headway in boxing overseas was Donald Obeyesekere.

He fought his way to victory at Cambridge at the turn of the 19th century, way back in 1898. On his return to Ceylon his set resolve was to further the cause of boxing as an art of self defence in the schools and Royal became one of the chief beneficiaries.

It could be said of Donald Obeyesekere that he lit the torch of boxing at Royal which was ably carried by his son, Danton for 55 years.

This is best illustrated by the fact that Royal has participated in every Stubbs Shield meet since its inception in 1914 except for in 1999 and 2010. Danton Obeyesekere was the first Royalist to win the Best Boxers cup at the Stubbs Shield in 1925 and later became the first Asiatic to Captain Cambridge University in any sport in 1928.

The other Cambridge Blues were Steve Dassanayake, Frederick Obeyesekere, Cedric de Soysa and Ponnambalam Rajendram, whilst Chris de Saram captained Oxford University. A. W. Henricus won a Gold Medal for the country at the Empire Games in Sydney, Australia in 1938 whilst A. I. Obeysekere won a Bronze Medal at the Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand in 1948.

E. I. Gray and A. I. Obeysekere represented the country at the Olympic Games in London, England in 1948 while B. C. Henricus represented the country at the Olympic Games in Helsinki Finland in 1952.

Boxing at Trinity

Boxing at Trinity has been an On, off sport. Boxing was introduced at Trinity in 1907 for the small boys and became a serious school sport in 1913 for the boys who were physically fit. Mulgrue of the staff was the first coach and he was assisted by R.V.Routledge, Sgt Major Jobson and Rignell of the Army regiment stationed in Kandy. An inter house meet was held in the very first year and Trinity won the Stubbs shield in the inaugural meet in 1914. Trinity’s ascendency was maintained in 1915, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 26, 49, 51, and in 1983. Even though Trinity boxers fared exceptionally well, in all meets in which they participated over the years, the sport continued to receive the treatment accorded to Cinderella. The Lions for boxing have been awarded to M. P. Kellora, F. R. Sirimanne, George Wells, Sydney Ratwatte, L.de Sliva, Henry Young, M. S. Daniel, E. C. Godleib, D. L. Y. Paktsun, L. K. L. de Silva, Rajah Sumanasekera, Ikram Odeyar, Udeni Kiridena and Sajith Egodage. The only Olympian boxer produced by Trinity was Leslie Handunge who represented the country at the London Olympics in 1948 and captained the contingent at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. Udeni Kiridena was the only Trinitian to qualify as A. I. B. A Referee/Judge.