Boxing going in the right direction says Dian

Though this being the final year that he will hold the reins of the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka (ABA) Dian Gomes is feels the sport that he loves so much will keep on growing even in the future.

“When I took over four years ago my main ambition was to have a boxer qualifying for the 2008 Olympics. We built the structure and that finally enabled us to fulfill our wishes. “At the same time we had four initiatives the main items being the coaching part and the technology aspects. So we brought in a Cuban coach Frometa Matos as the development coach for four years. This turned to be a success.

Now we got Rafael Elias in addition to his coaching the boxers he also takes care of the local coaches. We want to give an opening for the local coaches and here Wasantha Kumara – a young local coach, benefited and he was sent to Hungary on a coaching stint.

“Our next aim was to introduce more schools to participate in local tournaments. When I took over there were only 37 schools taking part in the Stubbs Shield but today we have double that. To implement this we were given support by some members of the corporate sector who came forward to sponsor some schools. Here, schools like Seevali MMV Ratnapura, Vidyaratna Pirivena and Taxila Central in Horana and schools in the Pannala district benefited. We have also implemented three centres of excellence in Koggala, Thulhiriya and Kandy”.

Another aspect that Gomes wants to improve is the exposure of our boxers in the international ring. In the last four years boxers like Manju Wanniarachchi have fought about 28 bouts and has attended around 16 international meets. Likewise Kamal Sameera and Anuruddha Ratnayake were also exposed at this level.

Expanding on the above he continued “Also we introduced the young boxers to Asian and World Championship level so that they could prepare themselves to take over once the seniors step out of the ring.”

Dian feels that the sport is growing rapidly in the country and very soon it will be similar to its glory of the 50’s and 60’s.

“Anuruddha qualifying to the Olympics speaks to that. Today he is among the top eight boxers of the world in his category. His effort was fantastic to qualify to the Olympics he took part in the World Championship in USA which saw 600 boxers from 133 countries participating. Even most of major boxing nations like Japan and Philippines have only one boxer qualified for the Beijing Olympics.

Besides the Olympics Anuruddha will seen in action in Taipei this May. Dian is confident that he will be successful in that meet too.

“In August we will be sending two junior boxers -- D.L. Kahatapitiya and K.L. Rupasinghe for the junior Commonwealth Games in Pune, India.

Likewise two boxers have been offered a six year scholarship to Cuba by the Cuban Ambassador which will involve boxing and studying in the University.”

The ABA has set up a gym in Ratmalana at a cost of Rs. 12 million for the use of schoolboys in the Colombo district. At the same time the ABA is also concentrating on women’s boxing will send two boxers -- Anusha Kodituwakku and Nilmini Jayasinghe for the World Championships in November in China.

The Boxing chief is very thankful to the corporate sector for being very supportive for their cause. “When I took over the coffers were virtually nil. Today we have over Rs. 12 million in our kitty. thanks to companies, like A&E, Brandix, MAS Holdings, Phoenix and Caltex.”