(UTV|COLOMBO) – Sri Lanka’s newest boxing star Purnima Jayasuriya won a silver medal on her maiden international while Dhananjaya Weerasinghe bagged a bronze medal at the Eindhoven Box Cup International Boxing Tournament in The Netherlands.
The Police duo brought glory to Sri Lanka in this competition which attracted 128 boxers from 23 nations including Russia, Kazakhstan, France, England and Germany in Eindhoven city from October 17 to 20.
Weerasinghe fighting in the Light Welter weight (64kg) beat Afghanistan’s national champion Tasal Mosazai in the quarter-finals and met Youth Olympic Games gold medalist Thailand’s Atichai Phoemsap in the semifinals. The Thai boxer who won the World Youth Championships and Asian Youth Championships in 2018, went on to claim the gold medal in Eindhoven while Weerasinghe had to settle for the bronze medal.
Jayasuriya has swept all before her in the Middle weight (75kg) since making her local debut this year winning the Novices, Intermediates and major championships such as the Layton and Clifford Cup meets. Purnima fought gallantly against France’s national champion Davina Michela who enjoyed reach advantage, in the finals at Eindhoven to win a silver medal which is the first medal claimed by a woman Sri Lankan boxer in an international tournament this year.
“The development of second layer of boxers was one of the strategies of Executive Committee of Boxing Association of Sri Lanka,” states a press release. (DN)
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