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Nimal Lewke - boxer and ruggerite par excellence

Senior Deputy Inspector General of Wayamba Province Nimal Lewke is one of the most outstanding sportsman to come out of the portals of St Sylvester’s College, Kandy - a school which is reputed for its prowess at boxing producing a large number of national boxers.


Nimal Lewke

Nimal Lewke is a multi-faceted sportsman though well known in the field of rugby, a sport which he did not play in school as the Sylvestrians did not have a rugby team at that time, he also excelled at boxing, cricket, hockey and athletics.

At school Nimal Lewke hit the top spot in boxing following the footsteps of famous boxers like the Bulner brothers, Gunasinghe brothers, Lloyd Hope, Marshall, Elsworth Perera, Bulltjens, Herathge just to name a few who went on to represent the country.

They were all products of legendary boxing coach late Derek Raymond who instilled science, skills and the killer instinct on the boxers which flustered the opponents.

At school and later at the national and international level Nimal Lewke was a stylish south paw and his left hooks carried the lethal blow and he combined this with fine foot work. It was all grace, style and flurry of punches which rattled his opponents.

Perhaps one of his best bouts was in 1969 at the then Colombo Schools Vs Outstation Schools annual boxing contest held at St. Sylvester’s College Hall, Kandy. Outstation schools which had in its folders boxers from S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, St. Sylvester’s College and Peradeniya Central College had to face the might of Colombo Schools.

Nimal Lewke was advised by his coach Derek Raymond to fight in the upper weight class to form a good team and he was also further instructed to fight the Best Boxer at the Stubbe Shield H. D. R. Jayaweera of Carey College who was a stylist and sent shivers among his opponents.

That was not all, the coach Derek Raymond wanted the bout between Nimal Lewke and H. D. R. Jayaweera to be the last fight for the evening to provide the climax to the boxing championship. When both boxers entered the ring the scores were deadlocked at 7 wins each and this fight was going to be crucial as the winner will tilt the championship title towards his side.

The referee was Mahasen Welwitigoda of the Navy and he had his hands full and what a fight it turned out to be. Lewke started with a crunching blow with his right and followed with a beautiful double punch to the stomache and jaw which saw his gain the lead in the first round. But Jayaweera came back fighting to probably win the second round displaying his fine infighting qualities.

Then came the decisive third round which would decide the fate of the contest and also the championship title. Derek Raymond a Dutch Burgher who normally speaks in English, this time spoke to Lewke in Sinhala and said “Mey rouma pissu ballek wage elawanna”.

Lewke did just that and Lewke turned winner and the Outstation Schools won the annual championship 8 - 7. Nimal Lewke was adjudged the “Best Boxer” and Jayaweera the “Best Loser”. Nimal Lewke went on to win the national championship and also boxed for the country.

Nimal Lewke was also a fine left arm spinner capturing 69 wickets during the season and during the goodwill tour of the Jaffna Peninsula he captured 22 wickets.

This was at the time the schools bowling averages were dominated by schoolboy bowlers from Kandy like Glen Vanlangberg (Trinity), H. S. Ranaweera (Trinity), Nimal Rajakaruna (St. Sylvesters), Christopher Sins (St. Anthony’s) just to name few.

Nimal Lewke cut his teeth at rugby at Kandy Sports Club under late General Denzil Kobbekaduwa who had Maurice Perera as their coach. He later played for Police and later captained their team with great success to win the triple championship. He was also adjudged as the police sportsman of the year in 1980. He also represented the country with distinction.

In rugby he was the national coach, President of the SLRFU, President of the Asian Rugby Football Union and the President of the Referees. It was during his tenure as the rugby coach of Kandy Sports Club that the hill capital club first won the triple crown. People will always remember him in his role not only in the field of sports but in the battle field leading the elite STF in the East.

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