Asadullah opening Royal’s campaign was the cynosure of all eyes as he boxed beautifully displaying style, panache and superb ring-craft against the hard hitting Karunarathna. Asadullah proved elusive with his quick silver footwork and counter punched effectively against the Peradeniya boxer who was playing catch up mostly. However, to the consternation of almost everyone in the stadium and the Royal camp in particular, Asadullah suffered a split points decision 3:2
Mahanama College, Colombo staked a claim as a formidable contender in the 105th Stubbs Shield Boxing Championship by producing four winners on the second day of action at the Royal MAS Arena on Friday, but they will be kept waiting until Tuesday when the champions will be crowned with more bouts lined up today at the Royal MAS Arena.
The championship is part of the All Island National School Games organized by the Education Ministry in association with the Schools Boxing Association and features nearly 500 boxers from 132 schools competing in 36 weight classes across three age divisions.
Friday was also marred by contentious referee decisions, with official protests lodged by Dheerananda MV, Pilimathalawa, Kadugannawa National School (KNS) and Royal College, Colombo.
A full card of 89 bouts on the second day of the tournament produced some explosive contests in the preliminary round particularly in the higher weight classes.
WTLM Abeysekara (Junior Boy 46kg), WGM Yensitha (Junior Boys 48kg), KASK Perera (Junior Boy 52kg) and HS Nambuwasam (Youth Boy 49kg) won their opening bouts notching five victories under their belt. Their only loss was at the hands of Royal College captain and Sri Lanka junior international Thenuwan Meegalla who won inside the distance against KDBV Perera in the Senior Boy 56kg.
Favourites Vidyarathana University College, Horana (VUC) suffered another reversal when SAJ Bimsara was down with flu and conceded a walkover against JMT Deshan of St Sylvester’s College, Kandy in the Senior Boy 64kg.
However, they notched three wins through DNB Dulnada (Junior Boy 46kg), MM Udukala (Junior Boy 50kg) and LN Prasanna (Junior Boy 54kg).
Defending champions St Sylvester’s College, Kandy, winners of the Stubbs Shield for the past three years, also suffered a reversal when BGD Piyathilaka lost to RMVM Rathnayaka of Sri Pragnaratne Central College, Geli Oya (Senior Boy 49kg). SPP Angelo (Senior Boy 52kg), TMCL Tennakoon (Senior Boy 75kg) and JMT Deshan (Senior Boy 64kg) won their bouts.
However, the day’s events were marred by controversial decisions with three schools – Dheerananda MV, Pilimathalawa, Kadugannawa National School (KNS) and Royal College lodging official protests.
Sri Lanka junior international RMNC Rathnayake of Dheerananda MV lost a split points decision (3:2) despite prevailing over Lankathileke MV’s WGMTD Senevirathne (Junior Boy 46kg) while NBP Weerasinghe of KNS also lost a split points decision (3:2) despite a dominant performance against VUC’s Dulnada.
However, the talking point of the day was the loss suffered by Royalist MISM Asadullah (Junior Boy 48kg) against LYBRM Karunarathne of Peradeniya Central College.
Asadullah opening Royal’s campaign was the cynosure of all eyes as he boxed beautifully displaying style, panache and superb ring-craft against the hard hitting Karunarathna. Asadullah proved elusive with his quick silver footwork and counter punched effectively against the Peradeniya boxer who was playing catch up mostly. However, to the consternation of almost everyone in the stadium and the Royal camp in particular, Asadullah suffered a split points decision 3:2.
Royal also lost an intriguing battle between two southpaws with MBP Thilakarathna of Sivali College, Ratnapura winning against B Mewan (Junior Boy 50kg) while Ananda College’s PN Samadanam prevailed over another Royalist TM Dissanayake (Senior Boy 52kg). But their heavyweights, Meegalla, KMM Bandara (Senior Boy 75kg) and KSM Perera (Senior Boy 81kg) won convincingly.
Northern Province girls B Brintha (Junior Girls 46kg) and U Keerthinana (Senior Girls 60kg) scored impressive to advance to the next round while NKGCJ Siriwardhana (Senior Girls’ 48kg) of Hemamali Girls College, Kandy also dominated her rival.
The preliminary rounds will continue today with a card of 96 bouts.
