Sports

Sports

Back on the pedestal
By M. Shamil Amit
Remember the good old days of Sri Lanka's sporting achievements? Duncan White won silver at the Olympics which was the first in an international event. This was followed by billiard maestro Mohamed Junaid Mohamed Lafir winning the world billiard title in 1973 and then Arjuna Ranatunge's team brought to the land another world title when they brought the world cup in 1996 and in the year 2000 sprint queen Susanthika Jayasinghe emulated White when she won the second medal at the Olympics, but this time a bronze when it was held in Australia.

Just a week ago two Sri Lanka boxers Harsha Kumara and Kamal Sameera once again brought honour to the country by bringing home two bronze medals from the Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland. The medal in this discipline is coming to Sri Lanka after a lapse of 57 years to be exact. The last Commonwealth boxing medal that a Sri Lankan won was in 1948 when Barney Henricus won a medal at the games-- then known as the Empire Games.

The duo was a part of the six member contingent that represented Sri Lanka. Harsha Kumara and Kamal Sameera earned their medals in the Light Flyweight (48kg) and Featherweight (57kg) categories. Kumara an old boy of Vidyartha College, Kandy has won many titles in a number of local competitions such as the Layton Cup, Clifford Cup and at the national boxing championships as a member of the Slimline Boxing Club. He has also represented the national team in the Indonesian President's Cup and won a gold medal at the SAF Games held in Pakistan last year but he considers the Commonwealth victory as his greatest achievement. He said the competition was tough and it was a dream come true win for him.

Kamal Sameera an old boy of Sivali MMV Ratnapura a school that has produced top boxers in the recent past is just 22 years old. He came up the hard way to become one of the favourites. He excelled when boxing for his school team at major boxing meets winning titles at the T.B. Jayah memeorial cup, Stubbs Shield and the National School Games before he was spotted by the Slimline Boxing in Pannala who took him under their belt.Like Kumara has been successful at almost all the local boxing meets, he has won medals at the Green Hill Cup, SAF Games in Pakistan and the President's Cup in Indonesia. Three weeks before participating in the Commonwealth Games he underwent training in Cuba which he said helped him immensely.

“The training I got was very tough” and he went on saying even minor boxing championships in Cuba are held in a festival atmosphere. The Cuban boxers are so dedicated and this is the reason that Cuba is producing world class boxers” said Sameera.

He said “The training made me become a tough boxer and the win is a stepping stone for me and my aim is to win more medals for Sri Lanka and put our country on the world map of boxing”. And he added “we are fortunate to have a Cuban Jorge Frometa Loius as our coach thanks to the ABA president Dian Gomes”.

President of Amateur Boxing Association Dian Gomes was the happiest man as his aims are closely coming to reality. Gomes said “We realised that our boxers should be given international exposure and that’s what we are just doing and they have not disappointed us”.

But he was sad that support received has been minimal “I can say there is hardly any backing from the state to promote boxing. We are grateful to Caltex Lubricants who have supported various other sports for coming forward to sponsor boxing in Sri Lanka”.

“In winning the medals at the Commonwealth Games it was proven that the training in Cuba has strengthen the teams performance and put the game on the right track. He further stated that we proved that Sri Lanka boxers have the capability to win at international meets”. “We are improving with every meet and this augurs well for boxing in Sri Lanka promising more international medals to come in time to come. “What the boys need is the support” said Gomes.

Wazir Sourjah who accompanied the team as the manager said that “another medal prospect Manju Wanniarachchi was unfortunate to miss out due to a misjudgement on the part of the judges. He was leading in the computer scoring but it resulted in him losing by just two points”.

Meanwhile the next assignment for the Sri Lanka boxers is the Asian Senior Championship due to be held in Ho Chin Minh City in Vietnam. 20 countries will be participating and the 11 member team comprising of seven from Slimline BC, three from Army and one from Navy is due to leave the island this morning and the contingent is confident of coming back with medals.

The team to Vietnam - Anuruddha Ratnayake (Capt), Harsha Kumara, Manju Wanniarachchi, Kamal Sameera, S.I. Kumara, W.M.R. Wekadapola and Upali Bandara all from Slimline BC, S.P. Wanninayake, A.I. Hansar and W.P.D.P. Fernando all from Army and H. Dharmasiri (Navy).

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