Eight young boxers to travel to Sweden for King of the Ring International Boxing Tournament

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka Boxing will send the top eight schoolboy pugilists at the recently concluded Stubbs Shield boxing tournament on a trip to Sweden to take part in the King of the Ring International Boxing Tournament for the very first time. 

This event will take place from 21-25 November in Boras, Sweden. The Sri Lankan group will go up against teams representing hosts Sweden, England, Norway, Finland, Scotland, Portugal, Ireland, Gambia, Uganda, Senegal, Canada, India, Jordan and Lebanon.

Trinity College, Kandy’s Attaab Manzil, one of the most technical boxers at the Stubbs Shield, will be the only representative in the junior segment. Manzil comes from a sporting family with his father representing the national team in table tennis. Manzil also leads his school’s Under 16 rugby outfit and plays table tennis as well.

The other players selected for the journey to Sweden are Kavisha Manathunga from St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy (52 kg category), G.D.I.S. Hansaja from Vidyartha College, Kandy (49 kg category) and Shanujan from Hartley College, Jaffna (81 kg category). 

Meanwhile, the Elite category will include two boxers from Dheerananda College, Pilimatalawa - S.M.K.S. Bandara (52 kg category) and Stubbs Shield Best Boxer Chethiya Ekanayake (60 kg category).

The other two boxers are three-time Stubbs Shield winner Nisal Rangana Bandara (49 kg category) of Peradeniya MMV and Vimuk Hettiarachchi (56 kg category) of Royal College, Colombo. It is significant to note that of the eight players, six come from the Central Province, highlighting the growth of the sport in the region.

The officials selected for the tour are AIBA two-star coach Abdulla Ibunu of Royal College, AIBA one-star coach K.K. Sunil of Dheerananda MMV, who is also the SASL General Secretary, AIBA one-star coach U.D.T.T. Abeywardena of St. Sylvester’s College and Lahiru Senarathna, the Head Coach of Trinity College who will be the school national coach on tour. 

Senarathna boxed for Trinity from 2007-2014, helping the school secure many trophies over the last couple of years after the sport was badly neglected for some time.