Wanniarachchi axed for international dual contest

By Allaam Ousman
Young bantam weight N.S.P. Silva from Peradeniya seems to have ended the international career of veteran Sri Lanka boxer M.D.K. Wanniarachchi, who has been axed from the national team to face Tanzania in a dual international contest for the ‘MAS Challenge Cup’ at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium on Saturday.

Silva came close to causing a major upset in the bantam (under 54kg) finals of the Layton Cup Boxing meet on Friday, losing on points by a wafer-thin margin 10-8 to miss out on the gold medal. But the performance of this lanky 19-year-old southpaw, who never allowed the experienced Wanniarachchi to get inside and land his powerful combinations, did not miss the eye of ringside experts. He not only received the Best Loser’s award but on the insistence of Sri Lanka’s boxing chief Dian Gomes included in the team to face Tanzania at the expense of Wanniarachchi, who gave a disappointing performance at the Commonwealth Boxing Championships held in Liverpool in July.
Two other national stars - K.A.C.N. Alexander and T.B. Harsha Kumara – will also be missing from the Sri Lanka line-up to face Tanzania, having skipped the Layton Cup meet. A.K.G. Kamal Sameera, who was indisposed with chicken pox, is expected to be fit for the dual contest which will feature seven bouts from 48kg to 69kg.
This will be the third time that the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka is staging an international dual meet following the successes against Philippines (2005) and Vietnam (2006). However, this is the first time an African national will be visiting Sri Lanka for a boxing tournament of this nature.

“The over-riding objective of organizing this dual tournament is to provide the Sri Lankan boxers with some high class international exposure in their build-up to the World Boxing Championship scheduled to be held in Chicago later this year,” said the ABA president. The Layton Cup served as a trial to select the Sri Lanka team for the world event. The Tanzanian team is expected to provide stiff opposition to Sri Lanka having secured one silver and three bronze medals at the Commonwealth meet.

The dual contest will also see the eagerly awaited return to international competition of former national champion Anuruddha Ratnayake, who made a spectacular comeback at the Layton Cup boxing meet after serving a two-year suspension for taking banned substances.
Following is the line-up for the dual contest:

Light Fly (under 48kg) – T.M.C. Tennekoon (Sri Lanka) vs Abdallah Fikiri (Tanzania); Fly (under 51kg) – R.M.A.B. Ratnayake vs Rajabu Omar Mbwana; Bantam (under 54kg) – N.S.P. Silva vs Ally Kimwaga Ally; Feather (under 57kg)- A.K.G. Kamal Sameera vs Emiliani Patrick Polino; Light (under 60kg) – R.V.A.I. Rajapakse vs Petro Charles Mtagwa; Light Welter (under 64kg) – K.K. Jayasundera vs Hasim Simon Petro; Welter (under 69kg) – S.I. Kumara vs Joseph Martin Mwaselage.