Boxing Nationals at Pallekelle

S M Jiffrey Abdeen- Kandy Sports Correspondent

The 86th men's and women's senior Boxing National Championships organized by the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka (ABASL) and hosted by MAS Holdings Limited will be worked off from December 14 to 18 at Pallekelle and Kandy with the meeting commencing at 3 pm each day.

This Boxing Nationals was earlier scheduled to be worked off in Colombo but in an unprecedented move the ABASL had decided to shift the venue to Kandy which is known as the 'Cradle of Boxing in Sri Lanka with the MAS Holdings hosting the tournament at their fully fledged two ring Linea Gymnasium at Pallekelle from December 15 to 17 and the finals on December 18 will be worked off at the roof top of Kandy City Centre in the heart of Kandy City.

They will be providing accommodation to over 200 participating boxers and this will help them financially. Perhaps for the first time in the hill capital that the two rings at Linea Clothing will see two bouts being worked off simultaneously. Hemantha Weerasinghe of Linea Limited is making all arrangements in this direction and is an extremely busy person.

This year has seen the rise in the standards of boxing in Sri Lanka. The gold medal win of Anusha Kodituwakku of MAS Holdings in Tunisia during the Tunisian International Women's Boxing Tournament in November this year and the subsequent win of the MAS Challenge Cup on December 1st after four bouts victory over India by the Sri Lankan boxers, the sport appears to be making an arduous climb towards achieving victory at world level.

From the recent achievements it is very clear that the boxers are turning around and they have gained confidence and skills and the will to win and they are a force to be reckoned with. National Championships of this standard will provide them with the much needed exposure and the skills are honed to go for the killer instincts and gain more victories at International levels.

A women boxer who will be sadly missed is Anusha Kodituwakku as the maximum age limit has caught up with her on December 1st a few days after she struck gold at international level. She bade adieu to the boxing ring after 10 years but her performances will inspire young women pugilists to reach the pinnacle, in their respective category.

Manju Wanniarachchi is back in the ring after serving his two year ban and he will be the star and keep the momentum going. Manju said that he is in fine fettle as during his two year ban, he did not idle and he was training hard to come back with a vengeance and he has two more years of boxing in him. The current under 56kg. Bantam weight champion Gayan Jayaweera will meet Manju Wanniarachchi in one of the bouts which should see sparks fly. This will be about of the meet unless there is a shock result and one of them is eliminated.

The winners of the tournament in the varying weights categories will qualify for the final trials of the SAF Games to be held in March 2013 in New Delhi. The hopefuls for golds will be representing the Slimline, Linea, Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Unichela, Silueta, MAS Southern Boxing Club and schools like Royal College, Vidyartha College, Kingswood College, St Sylvester's College and Vidyaratne SC.

The 2011 Boxing Nationals saw Nilmini Jayasinghe of MAS Southern Boxing Club clinching the 'Best Female Boxer's award', while T D T N Jayakody of the Sri Lanka Air Force lifting the Sir William Challenge Trophy for the Most Scientific Boxer. The MAS Southern Boxing Club 'A' team won the Women's Team championship and the Army Boxing Club was awarded the Sgt. Selvadurai Memorial challenge Cup for the Most Successful Club of the year 2011, P D Suresh of MAS Slimline Boxing Club once against won the Most Successful Club award.

The Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage is expected to grace the finals as the chief guest.