It is a truism that ‘old soldiers never die, they just fade away’. Similarly it could be said that sportsmen in general and boxers in particular refuse to retire literally and always harbour an ambition to give back something to the sport which brought them glory during their hey days.
In a magnanimous gesture of chivalry, a group of past Sri Lankan boxers have got together to form an association with the noble objective of looking into the welfare of boxers who may need assistance long after they have hung up their gloves.
The inaugural committee meeting of the Sri Lanka Veteran Boxers’ Association will be held on Thursday 24th August commencing at 6.00 pm at the Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club grounds. “We have formed a 21-member committee to work out details such as drafting a constitution for the association in keeping with our objectives,” said Major Mahinda Hettiarachchi, a seven-time Stubbs Shield winner and live wire of this historic initiative which may be a first in Sri Lanka.
“Former Thurstan College boxing captain Dushantha Kiriella is the man behind this noble concept born out of his idea to have a ‘small get together’ of former boxers. Having been occupied in Bangladesh for nearly 30 years rising to become a top manager in the garments industry, he obviously missed the camaraderie in a sport which saw him not only captain his school but also represent the country during a tour of India in 1978,” Hettiarachchi said of his former school mate.
The result was an unprecedented gathering of the boxing fraternity in the country at a grand ceremony held at the Army Cantonment in Panagoda in April. Former Army Commander General Jagath Jayasuriya, winner of the coveted Senior Best Boxer’s award at the Stubbs Shield Championship, graced the occasion as chief guest with Rohan Pallewatte, a leading entrepreneur being the Guest of Honour.
The highlight of the event was the felicitation of eight people in special recognition of their services to boxing. They were Brig. Rajitha Ampemohotti, a former Royal boxing captain and war hero; Priantha Malavi, a long-time cornerman and technical assistant of Royal College boxing team; Olympian DIG (retd) Sumith Liyanage; veteran coach U.A.T. Sumanapala; oldest living national champion K.V. Dharmadasa; Indradasa Jayasinghe; Dr. L.P.V. Jayaweera, an Olympic poolist who was Chairman of the Boxing Medical Commission at the 8th and 9th Asian Games; and Mrs. Philomena Wijesuriya, the first woman boxing official in Sri Lanka.
“It was a tremendous success and well appreciated by everyone who urged us to form an association of veteran boxers in Sri Lanka. Kiriella has consented to be the president of Sri Lanka Past Boxers’ Association for which we selected 21 boxers to form the inaugural committee,” said Hettiarachchi, a former President of the Sri Lanka Amateur Boxers Coaches Association. He will have Nalin Jayasinghe, a former Army boxer, as Assistant Secretary.
SSP Lionel Gunathilake, a Stubbs Shield winner for St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy, will be the First Vice-President, while Captain Sumith Fonseka, a Stubbs Shield champion from Vidyartha, will be the Second Vice-President.
Former Army boxer K.H.D. Jagath Chandra will be the Treasurer and M. Premaratne, an old boy of Sri Sangaraja MMV, the Assistant Treasurer.
Among the committee members are M.S.M. Imtiyaz, who represented Hameed Al Husseiniya; Paul Luke Outschoorn, a former Royal College boxer; Trinity ‘Lion’ Ikram Odayar, who won the Senior Best Boxer’s award at the Stubbs Shield and also represented Sri Lanka in rugby; Kevin de Rose, an outstanding product of Carey College; and former national champions from St. Mathew’s College, Dematagoda, W.M. Chithrananda and D.J. Neththikumara.
Hettiarachchi said that the founding committee members of the Sri Lanka Veteran Boxers’ Association are not presently involved in boxing administration. “We are not here to rival the main bodies governing boxing in the country. Our aim is mainly to look after the welfare of past boxers, assist in the development of school and national boxing, help up and coming boxers and more importantly launch an insurance scheme for past boxers in addition to a death donation fund,” said Hettiarachchi, former National champion who holds the distinction of being one of the youngest officials when he served as Secretary of the Amateur Boxing Association of Sri Lanka from 1996 to 98.
Veteran boxers who have represented school or club and wish to join this Association should contact Major Mahinda Hettiarachchi on 0714321177.
0 comments:
Post a Comment