Army boxers produced a dominant performance winning nine gold medals in the men’s competition to emerge champions at the BASL Clifford Cup Boxing Championship at Sahas Uyana, Kandy on Sunday.
They also won two silver and two bronze medals winning a total of 13 medals.
This major year-end tournament was organised by the Boxing Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) along with the Youth Championship amid much pomp and pageantry for the first time in an outdoor venue in Kandy.
The presence of a leading IBA (International Boxing Association) official John Waith to conduct a 1-star Referee and Judge course for local officials added significance to the event.
Olympian and Deputy Sports Minister Sugath Thillakaratne was the chief guest at the finals.
SLT Mobitel was the official broadcaster of the tournament with PEO Sports providing live telecast on all five days in their digital channels.
Sachini Fernando (left) the best boxer women
Southpaw Suranga Fernando of Army who defeated Navy’s AMTS Adikari in the welter weight (67kg) was adjudged the Best Boxer (men).
SHSR Fernando who scored an upset win over Sri Lanka Boxer KKIT Perera of Air Force in the light fly weight (50kg) final, was adjudged as the Best Boxer (women).
KASK Abeygunawardena scored an upset win over veteran Navy boxer AMGI Bandara to clinch the fly weight (51kg) title.
PPS Siriwardhana won the heavily contested light welter weight (63.5kg) title while PMLL Chandrabandara scored a stunning technical knockout win over international gold medallist Chinthana Udayakumara of Air Force winning the thrilling light middle weight (71kg) title.
The other winners for Army were Rukmal Prasanna (57kg), RMPKK Rasnayake (60kg), YSP Sudamma (86kg), PARS Rupasinghe (92kg) and UA Avishka (92+kg).
Air Force Kafirs emerged women’s champions winning a total of eight medals comprising four gold, three silver and one bronze medal.
Army women’s boxing team won a total of eight medals comprising two gold, four silver and two bronze medals to become runners up.
