Clifford Cup Boxing starts tomorrow

The 79th Clifford Cup Boxing Championships with 79 pugilists in the fray will be held from tomorrow (Monday) October 2 to 5 at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium.

The four-day boxing meet which is conducted by the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka will be the final trial to pick boxers to represent Sri Lanka at the Asian Games to be held in Doha, Qatar in December.

On all four days the meet will start at 5.30 p.m. Altogether 11 bouts are on the cards.

There will be medical examinations and weigh-in of boxers daily. Then there will be a draw of lots and the preliminary rounds will be worked off. All finals will be on October 5 and the medal award ceremonies.

The boxers from Slimline, Sri Lanka Army and Police are expected to show their prowess as they are fielding very experienced boxers. Most of the boxers are fresh after participating at the 10th South Asian Games and they are expected to give impressive performances.

The Best Boxer of the meet will be presented the late Captain S.A. Karunaratne Memorial Trophy. Karuanaratne was a Gold Medallist at the Asian Games in 1964 and he was a lone boxer to represent Sri Lanka at the Mexico Olympics in 1967. It was his last appearance in boxing.

L.F.