Golden Manju

By Dinesh WEERAWANSA

BOXING: Most of us would have competed at fancy dress parades depicting various characters and roles when we were young - at Montessori or primary level.

Perhaps, the characters we chose for those fancy dress parades are the ones we love and have in our minds as role models. But not all of them could fulfil their childhood dreams.

A kid who figured as a boxer at a fancy dress parade some 23 years ago not only achieved that feat in real life as a youth but also did it in perfect fashion by making the entire nation proud.

He was able to keep the Lion flag fluttering high in the Indian capital at the recent Commonwealth Games. He is none other than Manju Wanniarachchi who bagged Sri Lanka's first Commonwealth Games boxing gold medal in 72 years. What an incredible feat it was by the Lankan lad who underlined his supremacy in the ring sport, thereby marking Sri Lanka's place prominently in the international sports map.

Last Wednesday was a red letter day in the annals of Sri Lanka's sports history when Manju Wanniarachchi entered the red corner of the Commonwealth Games boxing ring at Tal Katora Indoor Stadium, New Delhi to take on Sean McGoldrick in the final of the men's 56kg bantamweight bout.

It was one of the most keenly contested tussles for supremacy in Commonwealth Games boxing history and the points were levelled seven-all at one stage. But Wanniarachchi was determined that he should keep his promise before leaving Colombo for the 74-nation Games, that he would not return home without the 'Gold'. At the end, a power-packed left hook turned the tussle in Sri Lanka's favour as Wanniarachchi finally out pointed his opponent 16-14.

Last 'Gold' in 1938

Sri Lanka's last boxing gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, then known as Empire Games, was registered by A.W. Henricus in Sydney, Australia way back in 1938. Twelve years later, Sri Lanka won two silver medals (K. Edwin and Albert Peries) and a bronze medal (Alex Obeysekera) at the 1950 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand. Since then, Sri Lanka has been experiencing a lean run, failing to produce a single boxing medallist.

Undoubtedly, this historic win is another milestone in sports revolution of Sri Lanka under President Mahinda Rajapaksa's inspiring leadership. Wanniarachchi's golden feat is a welcome sign towards Sri Lanka's bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Hambantota. Young Parliamentarian and former Sri Lanka Youth rugby captain Namal Rajapaksa has taken a keen interest to bring the Commonwealth Games to Sri Lanka and Wanniarachchi's golden feat last week would no doubt add more weight towards Sri Lanka's bid.

The sports-loving President was amongst the first to congratulate Sri Lanka's golden boy after his record breaking feat that made all Sri Lankans proud. Immediately after Wanniarachchi made sure of his gold medal, President Rajapaksa telephoned the Lankan boxer and congratulated him for making Sri Lanka proud. President Rajapaksa, later graced the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games as Guest of Honour and met the champion boxer in New Delhi on Friday and commended Wanniarachchi for keeping the Lion flag fluttering high in the Commonwealth Games.

Born on December 2, 1979 in Kongahawela, Matale to parents Daya Thilak Wanniarachchi and Shyama Aluvihare, Manjula Dinesh Kumara Wanniarachchi cut his teeth in boxing at Vidyartha College, Kandy, which has always been a breading shade for outstanding schoolboy boxers.

Started to box at 10 years

According to his first coach Lal Amunugama, young Wanniarachchi started too to box at the age of ten years. The manner in which young Wanniararchchi mastered the glove art in no time made Amunugama feel that the young schoolboy would bring glory to Sri Lanka in boxing one day. Since his first major junior title in 1989 in under-11 category, Wanniarachchi has excelled and climbed up the ladder of the boxing world at every given opportunity.

It is nothing but sheer dedication, devotion, sacrifices and willpower that earned Wanniarachchi this moment of glory. For nearly two decades since taking to boxing as a primary student at Vidyartha, Wanniarachchi has made enough and more sacrifices and undergone untold hardships to reach the pinnacle. He did not believe in shortcuts and went through the mill in marching towards boxing glory. It is a classic example to all youngsters.

When the success story of Sri Lanka boxing is spoken about, one cannot forget who has been instrumental in making that successful recipe. It was those immense contributions made by Dian Gomes, the former Sri Lanka boxing chief who has been instrumental in the revival of Sri Lanka boxing, spending his precious time, wealth and more to promote and popularise the ring sport.

It is no secret the exemplary role played by Gomes to promote boxing. He has been the true godfather of Sri Lanka boxing, finding a safe heaven for the country's budding boxers to sharpen their skills at the highest level. But on most occasions, the boxers failed to deliver the goods, much to the dissatisfaction of Gomes, who would have suffered mental agony. Unfortunately, on most occasions, our boxers have not been able to turn Gomes' dedication, devotion and sacrifices into results.

Adding salt to those defeats were some unconstructive criticism. Many who knew nothing about sport, especially a body-contact sport such as boxing, laughed at Gomes when Sri Lanka failed to impress at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Gomes - the determined coach

However, Gomes' strong character made him even more ambitious to produce a big time gold medallist. As a true sportsman and gentleman sports administrator and a great promoter of sport, Gomes was determined in defeat. He vowed to bounce back in couple of years and was fully instrumental in producing a world class gold medallist in Wanniarachchi.

His own employee from Slimline Boxing Club in the MAS Holdings family not only silenced the critics but has also given a precious reward to the man who has done so much for the ring sport. I have never seen such an exemplary motivator such as Gomes. He does not believe in positions but accomplishing a task to the perfection. Despite being the Chief Executive Officer at MAS Intimates and a Director at MAS Holdings, he has always been a caring father to his employees, especially those boxers employed there.

Being with the boxers and foreign and local coaches during training sessions, taking boxers to the warm up venue, then to the competition ring, even tightening the shoe lace and gloves before a bout, refreshing his boxers during intervals - all were personally handled by himself. Gomes wanted to do all those personally because he believed in perfection and motivating factor. Imagine the CEO scouting and tightening shoe lace of a middle grade employee of his own company! Gomes injected that rich culture to Slimline and MAS Holdings family and that has paid rich dividends.

The nation celebrates

As the entire nation is celebrating the joy of that elusive gold, we must not forget the man who gave all that freedom to Gomes to go places with the Slimline sporting family - Mahes Amalean, the Chairman of MAS Holdings. They made the Slimline factory premises at Pannala a breeding ground for outstanding young sportsmen and women, providing them employment, nourishments, training facilities and coaching by foreign experts. They have proved that nothing is impossible if there is a will. Undoubtedly, Wanniarachchi's final aim would be to box at the highest level - at the Olympic Games in London, 2012. Definitely, with the support and untiring efforts of his coach Harsha Kumara and mentor Gomes, Wanniarachchi could well take the Lion flag to Olympic glory in two years time!