Kalupahana National School boxer Athukoralage Dona Senudi brought glory to Sri Lanka by clinching a bronze medal at the ASBC Asian Junior Boys and Girls and Schoolboys and Schoolgirls Boxing Championships held in the UAE. She was the only Sri Lankan pugilist to feature in the semi-finals but lost a tight contest in the School Girls 33-35kg weight to Indian Bhoomi Bhoomi with the bout being stopped in round two on day seven of the competition held in Al Ain City.

Sri Lanka was represented by a 20-member squad, the largest boxing team ever sent by the island-nation to an international competition. Ten of them contested in the quarter-finals but bowed out to tough competitors from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine. 

Among them was top schoolboy pugilist from Zahira College, Colombo, Abdur Rahman Zaidh competing in the under 35kg weight category. He was defeated in the quarter-finals by Kazakhstan’s Abylay Dossymbekov, with the referee stopping the contest in the first round.

In the School Girls quarter-finals, Shihasna Kawindi Hetthiya of Kalupahana National School and Weerasinghe Arachchilage Somaweera of Deerananda Maha Vidyalaya (MV) lost on points to Kazakhstan’s Takhmina Almasbek (37kg) and Milana Inshina (40kg) respectively. Meanwhile, Kushani Malsha Harappant of Dharmaloka College, Pelmadulla was outclassed by Ukraine’s Veronika Holub.

In the School Boys quarter-finals, Don Anuhas Denuwan Madubashana and Dinayadura Sadusha Sathmi de Silva of Vidyarathana University College, Horana, and RMNC Rathnayaka of Deerananda MV were unable to advance past their opponents. They faced defeats against Uzbekistan’s Javlonbek Makhammadisaov (40kg), Kyrgyzstan’s Nursultan Zhumaliev (46kg), and Mulsim Pansher (54kg) respectively.

In the Junior girls quarter-finals, HMNA Herath of Hemamali Girls College, Kandy (46kg) lost to Uzbekistan’s Maftuna Musurmonova with the contest being stopped in the final round, Nethmi Abishka Gimhani of Sri Pragnarathna Central College, Geli Oya (48kg) lost to Kazakhstan’s AIYM Tankibayewa with the bout being stopped in the second round while Karijjaw Nanayakkara of Seethadevi Girls College, Kandy (54kg) was outclassed by Mongolia’s Enkhchimeg Sansarmaa in round one.

Earlier in the preliminary round, Sathmi de Silva and Nethmi Avishka Gimhani of Sri Pragnanarathna Central College, Geli Oya, advanced after receiving walkovers from Saudi Arabia’s Tamim AlHazmi (46kg) and Bhutan’s Sangay Peldon (48kg) respectively.

However, the other Sri Lankan participants, Binul Dulnada Dewasiri of Vidyarathana University College, Horana, Lokunarangodage Nehan Kularatne of Sunandaponanda MV, Moratuwa, and Ranasinghe Arachchige Ranasinghe of S. Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia, were eliminated in the preliminary round. 

Kularatne (54kg) and Ranasinghe (57kg) lost on points to Iran’s Seyedali Malakoutidehkord and Tajikistan’s Abubakr Azizov, while Dewasiri (46kg) was stopped by Uzbekistan’s Khikmatilla Sobirov in the third round.

A total of 462 boxers from 26 nations participated in this competition, which was the first major event following the Paris Olympics. 

The event featured Asia’s top young boxing talents aged 13 to 16 with 56 gold medals at stake.