ABA’s Aubrey Peiris continues as President for 2013/2014

The Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) of Sri Lanka conducted the Association’s annual general meeting for 2013/2014 recently at Royal College, Colombo.

The following office bearers were appointed unanimously for 2013/2014. Aubrey Peiris will continue as President and Mahesh Dahanayake will continue as the Secretary. The Assistant Secretary position will continue to be filled by Sqn. Ldr. M.T.M. Safrask Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya and Herbert Embuldeniya will carry on as Vice Presidents for the upcoming period as well. The position of Treasurer will be continued by Dian Gomes. Dhilhara Seimon will continue as the Assistant Treasurer.

During 2012, the ABA held five elite boxing tournaments and four school boxing tournaments in Sri Lanka. Due to the increased participation, especially from the Armed Forces, the ABA has continued to increase the number of tournament dates to five days per tournament compared to four days, when compared with previous years.

The enthusiasm for the sport in Sri Lanka by both women and men is a notable achievement by the ABA during past year.

The senior men’s and women’s teams have competed at five international tournaments. Anusha Kodithuwakku won the gold medal at the Tunisian International Women’s Boxing Tournament while BLS Sandareka and D.D.S. Weerarathna secured bronze medals at the same tournament.  

The challenges for 2013 faced by the ABA will be the AIBA World Elite Men’s Boxing Championships scheduled to be held in Kazakhstan in October. Sri Lanka will be required to field the best medal hopefuls to allow boxers to excel in the World Championships.   

As the ABA gears up to go full steam ahead, carrying out its duties as the governing body of this much loved sport in Sri Lanka, the committee urges and welcomes any form of support to uplift and to continue improving standards in Sri Lankan boxing, ever committed to the dream of an Olympic gold.