By today, women pugilist Anusha Kodituwakku would have competed in her final bout as an amateur. The one time Sri Lanka Sevens rugby player contemplates on pursuing a career beyond the unthinkable. Kodituwakku (33) who threw the towel after an illustrious career of 10 years as an amateur boxer humbly regrets that she could not [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Come December Anusha opens another door of destiny

By Naushad Amit
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By today, women pugilist Anusha Kodituwakku would have competed in her final bout as an amateur. The one time Sri Lanka Sevens rugby player

Pic by Amila Gamage

contemplates on pursuing a career beyond the unthinkable.

Kodituwakku (33) who threw the towel after an illustrious career of 10 years as an amateur boxer humbly regrets that she could not come into boxing while she was still young but is proud of what she achieved. From today onwards Kodituwakku’s main focus will be to explore the possibilities of a fitting phase in boxing.

“I have a couple of ambitions left to be fulfilled in boxing. From this December my career as an amateur boxer will be over. But I still can venture into professional boxing and above all I would love to continue my life with boxing as a qualified coach. Beginning from December my focus will be to explore the possibilities in those directions of boxing,” Kodituwakku told the Sunday Times.

Kodituwakku who completed her primary and secondary studies at the little-known Hamangalle Maha Vidyalaya in Giriulla which is situated in the north western region of Sri Lanka had a penchant for sports as a youngster. She said that athletics was her first love until she fell for rugby.Kodituwakku was a speedy athlete and with the pace she found a permanent slot in the Sri Lanka Women’s Sevens team in 2003 and 2004. By this time she had set off her boxing career as an employee at MAS Holdings, one of the leading garment manufacturers in Sri Lanka.

“When I joined MAS Holdings I knew nothing about boxing. It was after I saw many of my colleagues boxing that I started to build up a liking towards it. Our head Mr. Dian Gomes was one character that would go that extra mile to promote boxing and boxers and when I told him of my intentions he said, ‘why don’t you give it a try’. And here I am today, after ten years, signing off as one of the most successful women amateur boxers in the country,” Kodituwakku who was in the moods of a contented and heartbroken person recalled.

During her amateur career which spanned 10 years, Kodituwakku has won many international medals for Sri Lanka, an endeavour she takes pride in unfolding. She has won about 12 medals to her credit. Many of them are apparently bronze medals. Among her collection, she has a gold medal which was earned at the Asian Games held in Doha, Qatar in 2006 and another gold medal she won at her penultimate international meet held in Tunis, Tunisia last month. She values them both at the same echelon.

“These are two gold medals won at two different events. I consider the medal won at Asian Games as the best because there was a value in contesting at that level for someone from Sri Lanka. Then again in Tunis, there were many representations from all over the world, so in that aspect it too has a value. Each has its own value and definition, just like my two hands”.

But there was also something else that she regrets for never being able to achieve. Being an Under-48kg boxer for many years during her career, she took a strange yet brave decision to change her weight category with the intention of qualifying for the London Olympics 2012, but without any reward.

“With the consultation of my coaches and Mr. Gomes, who is an expert in boxing, I changed into the Under-51kg class and trained for over 18 months. My prime objective was to represent Sri Lanka at the Olympics. I tried my best but failed and it was worth a try, for the amount of experience I gained during that period,” she said with solemn amusement.

Kodituwakku returned to her usual weight category, the Under-48kg class, before embarking on the mission to Tunisia in her final overseas assignment before retirement at the Eighth Nation Women’s International Boxing Championship. Interestingly, her opponent in the final bout was the Finland champion Lotta Loikkanen a boxer who qualified for the London Olympics. Surprising many Kodituwakku beat Loikkanen 14-4 to win her second international gold medal while raising the question mark, if the weight-class switch was essential for a boxer in her calibre.

Now that her role as an amateur boxer has come to an end, Kodituwakku stresses on her aspiration to help the youngsters and up and coming boxers to achieve the national pride. Kodituwakku feels that it’s her duty to do so as her predecessor and onetime team mate Anuruddha Ratnayake, who has joined in the mission of boxing-fanatic Gomes to produce an Olympic medallist from the ring. At the same time she is observing the possibilities of continuing her boxing as a professional while exploring on coaching courses, preferably in the overseas.

“I really regret that I could not take up boxing at 15 but on my retirement, I think it’s happening at the correct time, when I’m at the peak and at my best. But I still feel that my responsibility is incomplete in the boxing ring. I built my career as a member of the MAS Holdings fraternity and I think as human beings it’s our duty to always give back. I should start from my work place and then at national level by helping budding boxers come up in their careers before I set on my next mission as a pro and as a coach. I’m still exploring the possibilities in those areas and after consulting those closer to me I will make the next move at the appropriate time. I know life will not be the same on me now, without the usual trainings, bouts and exposure. But I can assure my next step will be as interesting as my short yet successful amateur career,” confidently as always, Kodituwakku guaranteed.




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