Umayanga Mihiran aka “Uma” is an 18-year-old boxer from Nalanda College, Colombo[/caption]
The new high-performance programme being launched by the Ministry of Sports is a step in the right direction. Hopefully it will yield results for mother Lanka in the years to come.
With the well publicised struggles of Sri Lanka cricket, which can easily be classified as the main sport in Sri Lanka, it is an appropriate time to shine the spotlight on other sports and sports personalities who can bring honour to motherland more than ever before. In this column last week, this writer highlighted such a sports personality from the sport of boxing.
As mentioned in that column, at the selection meet held for the Asian Junior Boxing Championship to be held in Dubai, two boxers were chosen by the national selectors to represent Sri Lanka.
One of the boxers chosen from that selection was the sports personality who was highlighted in this column last week. In the interest of fairness, this writer will be highlighting the other boxer who was chosen to participate in the above meet in Dubai by the national selectors this week.
Good potential
As mentioned last week, the present writer is certainly no expert on boxing, but people who have a lot more knowledge of the sport than this writer have assured the writer that this boxer who is highlighted today is also an extremely good medal prospect for Sri Lanka in the future. These are the kind of sports personalities that we need to look after, nurture, and give the necessary encouragement and the training to reach the highest possible echelon of their chosen sport.
After all, the sport of boxing is one which has won medals for Sri Lanka in the past. This writer vividly remembers cheering on the local boxers at the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games in 1991 while watching them on TV, and jumping up and down when they won gold medals. And, whilst there have been recent unfortunate controversies regarding some of the local boxers who won international medals, looking on the brighter side, it still showed the potential for international medals for this sport.
Umayanga Mihiran, or “Uma” as he is affectionately known, is an 18-year-old boxer from Nalanda College, Colombo. As an Old Anandian himself, this writer was pleasantly surprised to learn that Mihiran was from the “brother” school and was very interested to hear his story. Uma hails from a middle-class family with his father being a businessman and the mother being a housewife. He is the eldest in a family of three boys. Boxing runs in his family with his father being a former boxer from St. John’s College, Nugegoda --which has produced many a respectable boxer-- and his second brother who attends Vidyarathna University College, Horana also having recently taken up boxing.
Unbeaten locally
Uma who himself had attended Vidyarathna University College before he joined Nalanda College for his Advanced Level classes, had taken up boxing in 2013. Having done so at the tender age of 10 years, he had taken part in his first boxing meet in 2016 at the L.V. Jayaweera Boxing Meet where he had won the gold medal. He had continued his local winning streak in the 2016 T.B. Jayah Meet, the 2016 Stubbs Shield Boxing Meet, and at the Junior Boxing Championships in 2018.
Having remained unbeaten locally at all of the events and winning the selection trial for the meet in 2019, Uma had been chosen to take part in the Asian Junior Boxing Championship where he had to meet a boxer from Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals. Although he had suffered the first and only defeat of his career in that bout, he says that he gained valuable experience from that exposure.
“I really understood the intensity of the international boxing matches only when I participated in that bout. Although I lost, it really whetted my appetite for international boxing and made me determined to work harder at practices. We have to come up with ways to compete with these boxers if we are to do well at these events. And I am absolutely determined to do so and am confident in my own ability,” said Uma remembering his experience at his first and the only appearance at an international event so far.
Second international event
[caption id="attachment_151063" align="alignleft" width="299"]
Mihiran has picked for Asian Junior Boxing Championship, to be held in Dubai in August[/caption]
Afterwards back in Sri Lanka, he had taken part in the junior boxing championships at Kamburupitiya in Matara and had won the gold medal again. Whilst the pandemic had disrupted all his practices, he had still taken part in the selection trials for the Asian Boxing Championship Meet in Dubai to be held in August. And he won his weight category and impressed the national selectors enough to be among the chosen two for this meet, which incidentally will be his second international meet.
Speaking to this writer regarding his chances at the upcoming event, Uma said, “the biggest challenge that we face as Sri Lankan boxers is the lack of sparring with top-quality boxers. Apart from that, the other drawback is less exposure in the international events. If we can overcome those two hurdles, I am confident (Sri Lanka’s) boxing can do well internationally. My ambition is to win an Olympic medal for my country. I am very thankful to my Coach Amila Tissera for his guidance throughout my career.” Tissera incidentally is the national coach and would be one of the two coaches travelling on this tour.
This writer found Umayanga to be a mature young man with a good head on his shoulders. He has continued his practices even whilst he was sitting for his O/L exam, and, even with his A/L exam only months away, he is still practising hard for the upcoming meet which is a good example of balancing his studies and sports.
Conclusion
Sri Lanka does not lack talent in sporting disciplines to do well internationally. What is needed is a mechanism to harness that talent and to nurture it the right way. The new high-performance programme being launched by the Ministry of Sports is a step in the right direction. Hopefully it will yield results for mother Lanka in the years to come.