Gunathileke prevails over unfit Jayaranga

Jatila KARAWITA

BOXING: On a day marked by walkover and close contests E. G. A. Gunathileke of Air Force who was trailing by nine points to 15 scored by K. M. D. Jayaranga of Vidyarathna SC in the second round eventually won the bout as the latter was declared unfit to continue by the judges as the 81st Clifford Cup Boxing Championships organised by the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) of Sri Lanka which commenced at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium last evening.

Among other interesting bouts witnessed for the day C. P. Abeyrathne of Slimline prevailed over L. K. G. N. Rukshan of St. Sylvester’s BC who retired in the second round. Both the above-named bouts took place in the Preliminary round for the Fly Weight Under-51 category.

In the other bouts by the ABA A. M. Jayakody of Army received a walk over from R. K. S. B. Wickremasinghe also Army while P. D. G. M. Piyathileke received a similar walkover from K. M. Wickremapala of MAS Southern, Piyathileke represented Air Force.

Both those walkovers took place in the Bantam Weight 54KGS section. Meanwhile, in the Welterweight 69KGS category M. M. Suranga of Slimline outlasted in the second round over A. A. Weerasinghe of Air Force.

In the Light Heavy 81 KGS category B. R. Narampanawa was beaten by C. H. Weerathunga of Army. Narampanawa turned out for Police.

Light Fly Weight 48KGS section P. M. T. Tennekoon of Army won over W. A. K. Lasantha of Air Force while in the same category S. S. Gayan Kumara of Ghandara received a walkover from T. D. M. Samaranayake of Slimline. Slimline BC in the absence of star boxer Anurudda Ratnayake was expected to face a stiff resilience from Army SC in vying for honours at this coveted meet.

Ratnayake who carried Sri Lanka’s hopes on his shoulders during the 2008 Beijing, Olympics last August was rumoured to be contemplating retirement as he had reached the stipulated age of 34 by the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) of Sri Lanka.

Among other highly rated boxers expected to display their worth will be Kamal Sameera and Manju Wanniarachchi respectively.

Some of the leading boxing clubs who will be vying for the title will be Sri Lanka Air Force BC, Sri Lanka Police SC, Kalutara BC and Veyangoda BC. Overall, over 200 to 300 boxers from 25 teams are set to compete in 11 different weight categories during the championships. The best boxer of this meet will receive the Captain H. K. Karunarathne Memorial Challenge Cup presented by his family.