BASL to hold Layton Cup boxing meet in October
The last local boxing meet was held in January - File pic
The Boxing Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) is expecting to conduct the annual Layton Cup Championship before the end of October this year, with intentions of holding it as a qualifying competition for the upcoming Asian Men’s and Women’s Championship.
According to Hemantha Weerasinghe, the Vice President of BASL, Sri Lanka expects to field at least five to eight pugilists, both men and women, at the regional competition, and the Layton Cup meet will be the event in focus.
“Our expectations are such, but the final decision is in the hands of the Selection Committee members,” he said .
The annual regional competition, conducted by the Asian Boxing Confederation, is expected to take place in India during November or December this year.
But uncertainty prevails in many aspects as the Sri Lankan body faces a daunting period ahead in holding competitions or selecting athletes, while the number of COVID-19 infected people shows a sharp rise in the host nation India.
While activities are gradually resuming in Sri Lanka, with sports included, the BASL too are willing to recommence its main competitions and development and training programmes, once full clearance is granted.
A number of national and school boxing meets were postponed since mid-March, after the viral outbreak put the whole country in standstill. With full clearance pending, competitions scheduled for May and June have been also put off by the BASL, as boxing is expected to face a full pause of six months before events resume.
Among the important competitions conducted by BASL include the Novices, Intermediate, Layton Cup, Clifford Cup and the National Championship. In addition BASL join hands with the Schools Boxing Association to conduct the L.V. Jayaweera, T.B. Jayah, Schools, Junior, Youth and Junior National championships and the Stubbs Shield event.
The BASL is currently focusing on holding the most important meets for the remainder of 2020, as they anticipate the green light to hold competitions at least during the final quarter of the year. However, evidently, most of the national and schools events scheduled for 2020, are most likely expected to be pushed forward to 2021, according to BASL.
In addition to competitions, training and development projects carried forward annually by the BASL, also has been stalled due to the pandemic. Programmes halted are mostly focused targeting school children, who are newcomers to the sport.
“Most schools have already completed their respective Inter-House Meets from February onwards with intentions of qualifying for the L.V. Jayaweera and T.B. Jayah meets, as they are the stepping stone to the next level of boxers. However, the entire process has been completely stalled due to the pandemic,” Weerasinghe added.
The Schools Boxing Association has an affiliation of 120 schools in which over 300 pugilists compete at seven important events held annually. As both governing bodies keep their fingers crossed to resume activities, the BASL is seriously hoping to provide important inputs to the Schools Association in helping them to resume training following the guidelines issued by the health authorities.