Royal regained the Donald Obeyesekera Challenge Shield when they outclassed traditional rivals Trinity in their annual boxing meet concluded at the Royal Boxing Square in Reid Avenue yesterday.
Trinity who were the holders of the trophy having come out winners when the duel meet was held 50 years ago in 1960 were no match for the Royal pugilists who made a clean sweep by winning 11 of the 13 bouts that were contested.

A right hook from Royal’s G. Warnakulasuriya to Trinity’s N. Costa in the 75-81kgs bout of the dual boxing meet held yesterday at Reid Avenue.

Royal began the contest in style by taking the three bouts in the 13-14 years category with a scintillating 11-1 win through A.R.R. Musthafa in the 33-35 kgs weight bout. They followed it up with two more wins by taking the 41-43kgs and 52-56kgs bouts with K. Sindujan and A.K. Peiris coming out winners.

Royal underwent a setback when Trinity made a great comeback by winning two bouts which was the 44-46kgs and 50-52kgs category with D.L. Senaratne securing a 1-0 win and C.S. Dodamthenna overcoming his opponent by a margin of 6-3.

That was all that the Trinitians were able to do as the Royalist pugilists had things their own way from there onwards. S.P. Gamage began the Trinity routing with a comfortable 3-0 win in the 60-63kgs bout which was last of three bouts in the 15-16 age groups.

Royal skipper W.V. Suduwelikanda receiving the Donald Obeyesekera Challenge Shield from chief guest Tony Anghie.- Pix by Ranjith Perera.

From there on Royal made a clean sweep in the age group of 17-19 years. I.C. Kulatunga was the first to come out on top when he took the 46-49kgs bout with a close 1-0 before D.M. Ranasinghe outclassed his opponent in the 49-52 kgs with the referee being forced to stop the contest.

The fight between Royal skipper W.V. Suduwelikanda and his opponent G. Lushanth which was the 52-56kgs bout turned out to be a close fight but the Royalist with his cunning approach made sure he took the bout with a close 1-0 margin.

In the next bout N.K. Vithanage had little difficulty in brushing aside the challenge of his opponent in the 56-60kgs bout when he coasted to an easy 2-0 victory. The 64-69kgs bout saw S.A.S.P. Ratnayake coming out another easy winner as his opponent after receiving a barrage of clouts had to retire.
The penultimate bout of the contest which was the 69-75kgs bout saw Royal’s D.D. Weerakkody securing an easy 4-0 victory while burly G. Warnakulasuriya was too good for his opponent in the 75-81kgs contest which he won convincingly by 7-4 to complete the Royal dominance.

Trinity though surrendering the Donald Obeyeyesekera Challenge Shield had the honour of winning the best boxer’s award of the meet through C.S. Dodamthenna while Royal’s T.A. Jaimon took the best loser’s award.