Like the saying old soldiers never die experience pugilist Manju Wanniarachchi hit back with vengeance when he bagged a silver medal at the recently Commonwealth Boxing Championships held in New Delhi. Manju’s achievement goes down as the best performance by a Sri Lankan at this prestigious event, which is one of the most sought after events in the international calendar of Amateur Boxing.
Wanniarachchi on his arrival at B.I.A |
The Commonwealth Boxing Championships was a “make or break” event for Wanniarachchi. It was just two months ago that he was dropped from the Sri Lankan squad for the South Asian Games. His strategy of reducing weight to compete under the 51kg category resulted in him losing the local selection trial meet, to younger comrade P.D. Suresh from the Air Force.
It was perhaps the lowest point of Wanniarachchi’s illustrious career in which he reigned supreme as the national Bantam Weight champion for over a decade, with strings of international medals in between.
He did not let the SAF Games setback deter him as he carved his way back to the national side in his characteristic Bantam weight division. Wanniarachchi went on to make history, fighting back with the spirit of a true champion, bloodying and battering all opponents in his path to make it to the highest pedestal of Commonwealth Boxing.
Wanniarachchi came out in New Delhi all guns blazing as he sailed through the preliminary, quarter final and semi final bouts, defeating boxers from New Zealand, Scotland and Botswana respectively. In the final, Manju was up against Britain’s superstar Ivan Weaver who is tipped as an Olympic prospect for UK in 2012.
The Sri Lankan boxer fought valiantly but had to settle for the silver medal as he lost out on judges’ score line. Wanniarachchi’s fighting spirit saw him being recognized as the ‘Best Loser’ of the championship, recognizing the undying spirit and heart he showed right through the event. Incidentally his opponent Weaver was judged the most promising boxer.
In addition to Wanniarachchi’s heroics, the Lankan contingent tasted further successes at the Commonwealth Boxing Championships, courtesy of Air Force boxer P.D. Suresh who bagged the bronze medal in the Fly weight Category.
Suresh who earlier displaced Wanniarachchi from the South Asian Games squad, kept up his good form as he outfoxed Michael Rantsto of Botswana in the quarter finals before succumbing to Oliver Lavigi of Mauritius in the semi final, thereby securing a valuable bronze medal.
With this medal, Wanniarachchi has just proved that he is still good enough to compete at international level. The ABA of Sri Lanka will look towards him as one of the favorites to secure further medals at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games coming up later this year.
What counts is not the number of times you get knocked down, but the number of times you get back up and keep fighting. Manju has lived up to our expectations as being one of the finest Sri Lankan boxers in the modern era.
Don’t be surprised if he uses this success as the launching pad to elevate himself towards Olympic qualification by next year” opined Dian Gomes, former president of Sri Lankan boxing and the mentor of the champion, who has also been the pillar behind the success of Sri Lanka’s boxing.
It was Gomes who spotted Wanniarachchi’s potential as a young school leaver and was quick to take him under his wing at Slimline in Pannala, an opportunity which has proved to be critical in shaping Wanniarachchi’s international boxing
career over the ensuing
decade. |
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