Uthpala, Ishara win Silver and Bronze at Asian Under-22 Boxing Championships

Sri Lanka’s girls bagged a Silver and Bronze medal at the first ever ASBC Asian U22 Boxing Championships held from 20-30 January in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Uthpala Sewwandi featured in the gold medal clash in the light fly (50kg) weight class against Uzbekistan’s Sabina Bobokulova, who was the Gold medal winner at 2019 Asian Junior and 2021 Asian Youth Championships. Uthpala entered the finals after receiving a walkover from Hikaru Shinohara in the semifinals, due to an injury, and found the 18-year-old Uzbek talent Bobokulova too strong in the title clash. Southpaw Bobokulova, who defeated Mongolia’s IBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships bronze medalist Altanbek Khulan by a unanimous decision in the semifinals, stunned the Sri Lankan with a powerful right almost at the bell in the opening round. Uthpala made a valiant attempt to step up the tempo against the confident Uzbek, but it was not enough as Bobokulova beat the Sri Lankan boxer to win Gold.

Sri Lanka’s Bronze medal came in the women’s fly (52kg) weight class where Ishara Malshani lost in the semi-finals to the eventual Silver medalist Rinka Kinoshita of Japan. 

An experienced campaigner who has been boxing since the age of 13, Malshani found the Japanese southpaw, who was the Bronze medalist of the World Youth Championship, too hot to handle. Kinoshita would then lose on a unanimous points decision against Feruza Kazakova of Uzbekistan in the final. Kavindu Sanjaya (48kg) and Lasindu Eranda (51kg) gave a good account of themselves but were outpointed in the quarter finals by opponents from Pakistan and Iraq respectively.

Sri Lanka were represented by a five-member team of three men and two women in this inaugural U22 tournament, which saw 109 boxers from 12 countries taking part.