K.V. Dharmadasa – an iconic figure in the ring
The boxing community in Sri Lanka mourned the passing of a great servant of the sport K.V. Dharmadasa who was not only an outstanding pugilist but a fine athlete and football player as well.
A pin weight (106lbs) national champion in the 1950s, Dharmadasa belonged to an era when boxing greats like Leslie Handunge, Welivitigoda, Albert Perera, Alex Obeyesekere, Eddie Gray, Jayasuriya brothers, Dr. L.V. Jayaweera and Basil Henricus to name a few, strode like a colossus.
A long distance champion, he represented Ace Athletic Club, where Olympian Leenus Dias was his guru and completed the marathon twice.
“We ran from the Colombo University to Homagama and back,” recalled Dharmadasa, who would have turned 89 on April 14, during an interview a few months ago despite his memories being jumbled with fading memories.
Kotawara Herath Mudiyansalage Vithanalage Dharmadasa was a pencil-slim figure who fell in love with boxing at the age of 16 after watching the Western Province Meet when he was studying at Anderson College, Slave Island.
“Hashimdeen, one of the best goalkeepers in Asia, Jailabdeen, Halaldeen, all Sri Lanka players were in my school. I played for Sunrise and Slave Island Youth. But my first choice was boxing,” said Dharmadasa, who joined Tochage Sports Club, now Al-Ameen College.
He was runner-up to P.C. Piyasena in his first attempt at the National Championships in 1952 but beat him the following year to become national champion. He joined Walkers in 1954 rising from a clerk to become a Senior Executive. A left half who also played as right extreme, he remembers Walkers beating Weaving Mills which had Hashimdeen as goalkeeper in a Mercantile match.
A Captain in the Volunteer Force of the Ceylon Army Service Corps, Dharmadasa created a record of sorts when he won the Mercantile Boxing Championship, Nationals, Army Championships and Madras Olympics in 1954.
“My best fight was in Bombay where I beat Shami Kahtou. Going from Bengal to Bombay, the engine driver came and asked my coach Alex Obeyesekere, who is fighting Shami. He told me it will be a hard fight. So I boxed and beat the Indian Flyweight Asian champion,” recalled Dharmadasa with pride.
“We were fit like nothing. The exercises were tough. We were like iron. Punches also were hard. Obeyesekere made us run one and quarter mile in Galle Face,” he said about their training methods.
He served as Secretary of the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka (ABA) headed by Eddie Gray from 1972-1979 before being at the helm of the ABA from 1998 to 2000. He was one of eight along with Donald Munasinghe who successfully passed the exam in 1972 to become a boxing referee and went onto officiate at the King’s Cup in Bangkok.
His son Nishantha, a Public Schools athletic champion, followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming an international referee.
Dharmadasa will be best remembered for being one of the best referees Sri Lanka ever produced, being king of the ring smartly clad in white and commanding respect with his firm and stern demeanour as an official.