Sports
Thenuwan, Chathuni best boxers as St. Sylvester’s win fourth consecutive Stubbs Shield
St Sylvester’s College, Kandy with the Stubbs Shield.
Front row: BGD Piyathilaka, TMRL Thennakoon, TMCL Thennakoon, SGM Azhar, JMT Deshan, KGSK Heshan ,SPP Angelo.
Back row – PGCM Kumara, S. Nawarathne (St Sylvester’s Boxing Union), S. Sivaneshan (Master in Charge), TBJG Bandara (Head Coach), AGVH Jayasinghe, T. Pallekumbura (St Sylvester’s Boxing Union), M. Ilham (St Sylvester’s Boxing Union)
Thenuwan Bandara Meegalla of Royal College, Colombo and Chathuni Jagathya Siriwardena of Hemamali Girls College, Kandy clinched the best boxer titles in the boys’ and girls’ categories respectively as St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy clinched the team title for the fourth consecutive year in the 105th Stubbs Shield Inter-School Boxing Championship concluded at the Royal MAS Arena.
It was the 18th time the school from Kandy bagged the championship title as they won four golds and two silvers in the finals.
Royal College, Colombo claimed the runner-up position with three golds, three silvers, and a bronze. Thenuwan Bandara Meegalla, Royal’s captain and Taipei City Cup gold medalist, was awarded the prestigious Col. T.Y. Wright Challenge Cup for his technical prowess in the senior boys division.
In the Girls’ division, Siri Perakum Vidyalaya, Kotagala emerged champions winning three gold medals and one silver, while Sri Pragnarathne Central College, Gelioya earned runner-up position with three golds and three bronzes. Chathuni Jagathya Siriwardena of Hemamali Girls College, Kandy, received the Best Boxer award in the Senior Girls 48kg category displaying good ring craft and excellence to outpoint MKM Muthuni of Dharmaloka College, Pelmadulla.
Organized as part of the All Island National School Games by the Education Ministry and Schools Boxing Association, this year’s event saw nearly 500 boxers from 132 schools competing across 36 weight classes. With six finalists, two more than Royal, St. Sylvester’s were clear frontrunners from the outset.
Royal and St Sylvester’s began the finals on an inauspicious note when Ahsan Ahmedh (52kg) and TMRL Thennakoon (56kg) respectively suffered losses in the Youth Boys category to Nilusha Deshan Thathsara and Lokumanage Deshan Thathsara of Nalanda College, Colombo.
Mohamad Azhar (Youth Boy 69kg) won a tough duel against LDD Rashmika of Dombagoda Seelarathana MV by unanimous points decision to win the first gold medal for St Sylvester’s.
When the business end of the tournament began with the Senior Boys contests, St Sylvester’s suffered another setback when favourite and Novices Best Boxer SPP Angelo (52kg) was out of sorts against Ryan Nirmal Weerasekera of Trinity College, Kandy with his corner throwing in the towel in the third round. Weerasekera displayed superb technique and ring craft unleashing crisp combinations to dominate the contest.
St. Sylvester’s sealed their victory with Sadun Kavishka Heshan’s unanimous win (60kg), along with impressive performances by Deshan Jayasundara (64kg) and Vimarshana Heshan Jayasinghe (69kg), a 2023 youth international gold medalist.
Girls’ Best Boxer Chathuni Jagathya Siriwardena of Hemamali Girls College, Kandy (L) / Boys’ Best Boxer Thenuwan Bandara Meegalla of Royal College, Colombo. (R)
St. Sylvester’s remarkable showing underscores their reign in school boxing, firmly holding the Stubbs Shield for another year.
Royal’s heavyweights, Kandegedara Mudiyanselage Malith Bandara (75kg) and Sahan Perera (81kg), secured wins in their divisions, helping Royal secure the second spot.
The Girls’ division saw standout performances from Northern Province boxers Loganathan Kagenthiny of Poonthodam Vidyalam, Vavuniya, and Zithayakumar Kerthana of Gamini National School, Vavuniya, while GGNA Gimhani of Sri Pragnarathne Central College, Geli Oya scored an upset in the Youth Girls category, defeating Punsara Thiththagala of Hemamali Girls College.
In the Juniors Girls category, MDCS Mayadunne (50kg) of Prajapathi Girls College, Horana was at the receiving end of a contentious points decision against TDI Madushani of Siri Perakum Vidyalaya, Kotagala.
However, SMN Miloniya (46kg) and UB Sonali (48kg) were convincing winners for the school from Nuwara Eliya.
The final week of the year is like a Roman feast for the Test cricket fan, and Boxing Day this year promises mouth-watering contests in Melbourne and Centurion but look this way too, will you? Bulawayo is set to host Zimbabwe’s first Boxing Day Test 8n 28 years too, and with unpredictable Afghanistan on the other side, a real tussle is expected between the two teams, who despite their recent underwhelming performances, would feel like they’re favourites. After all, the last time either side won a Test was against each other.
But that was way back 8n 2021. Since then, they have not found a way to win. And one look at the Zimbabwe and Afghanistan squads for this two-Test series suggests that they’re both looking to change that by taking a different direction for 2025 and beyond. A splattering of Test debutants are expected – theoretically, there could be as many 15 debuts across the two XIs – and this series could very well be the one that births a new generation.
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Mahinda College, Galle took firm control of their two-day Under 19 Division I Tier ‘B’ cricket encounter as they reached 213 for nine wickets at stumps after restricting Moratu Vidyalaya to 96 runs at Galle on Wednesday.
After Arosha Udayanga grabbed five wickets to trouble the visitors, the home team topped 200 runs thanks to a century by open batsman Dulsith Darshana and a half century by Senuka Dangamuwa.
While Darshana scored 13 fours and a six in his 106 which came in 143 balls, Dangamuwa hammered nine fours and a six in his 50 which came in 51 balls.
Mahinda are in search of their first outright victory in the tournament proper after having earned first innings points in two out of the three matches in their group.
Moratu Vidyalaya too have completed three matches and have scored first innings points on one occasion.
Scores
Moratu Vidyalaya
96 all out in 45.2 overs (Sanjana Senavirathna 31, Shehara Fernando 20; Arosha Udayanga 5/35)
Mahinda
213 for 9 in 52 overs (Dulsith Darshana 106, Senuka Dangamuwa 50; Isuru Nidharshana 2/64, Nishitha Fernando 5/45)
by Reemus Fernando
Sri Lanka Athletics has suspended track and field official S. W. Nimalsiri for four years after a three member committee appointed by the sports governing body found him guilty of manhandling leading athletic official G.L.S. Perera within the Sri Lanka Athletics premises in Torrington.
“The executive committee of Sri Lanka Athletics decided to hand Nimalsiri a four year suspension after the three member committee concluded that he was guilty of manhandling the respected official,” Saman Kumara Gunawardhana, the secretary of Sri Lanka Athletics told The Island.
At the time of the suspension Nimalairi was a committee member of Sri Lanka Athletics and is the president of the Ace Athletics Club and secretary of the Colombo District Athletics Association.
The three member committee that inquired the incident involving Nimalairi and Perera was headed by retired district court judge Upali Samaraweera. Others in the committee were former director of sports Padma Siriwardana and disciplinary committee chairman of Sri Lanka Athletics Chandana Ekanayake.
Nimalsiri has also been suspended from officiating in track and field competitions.
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