Manju Wanniarachchi in fine come back - beats Weerakkody of Army ‘A’

S.H.Jiffrey Abdeen- Kandy Sports Corr

Former Commonwealth Games and Asian Games boxer Manju Wanniarachchi of MAS Slimline ‘A’ made a successful comeback by defeating W.P.I.Weerakkody of Army ‘A’ at the National Boxing Championship organized by Boxing Association of Sri Lanka and worked off at Linea Clothing Gymnasium Pallekele yesterday.

Wanniarachchi won 21- 14 after leading 6-3 in the first round and 15 - 6 at the end of the second round. Referee had to caution the loser Weerakkody a number of times when the verdict was announced and somebody from the crowd threw a chair at the judges and the fight was halted for sometime till the Police came and restored order allowing the fight to continue.

Another upset of the meet was in the Women’s championship feather weight under 57kg . J.A.K.Hansika of MAS Southern beat Tunisian Bronze Medalist C.Sandareka of MAS Slimline ‘B’ for 19 - 5 on points to win a first national championship. At the time of writing MAS Holdings were in the lead in both men’s and women’s championships winning several fights.

In the women’s super heavy weights over 81 kg, G.M.Weerasinghe of Sri Lanka Army beat K.B.I.Harsha of MAS Holdings by a very close margin of 14 - 12 in a fight which could have gone either way. Both boxers put up a fine show and in the end , it was Weerasinghe’s hard punches which brought her victory.

In the Women’s middle weight 75 kg, W.S.S.Shashikala of MAS Southern ‘A’ stunned the D.S.S.Weerasinghe of Sri Lanka Police by outpointing her 13 - 7 in another close contest with the winner gaining most of the points in the last round. In the men’s heavy weight under 91 kg, B.M.S.Sampath of Sri Lanka Navy fought a bitter battle against favourite H.M.R.C.Herath of Sri Lanka Army ‘A’before emerging victorious by 11 - 5 . Up to the time of going to press all the fights went the full distance providing the spectators with some thrilling fights.