One of the oldest Asian competitions, the 94th Clifford Cup turned to its medal phase in Kandy
The Clifford Cup is running at the Sahas Uyana, Kandy, Sri Lanka and together with their 1-star Referee & Judge Course, the competition is busy.
This is the 94th edition in Sri Lanka which makes the Clifford Cup one of the oldest Asian boxing competitions. The number of the participants are 140 among the youth and 115 in the elite part of the Clifford Cup including 75 women.
The President of Sri Lanka Boxing Mr. Anuruddha Shanaka Bandara is proud to host this important R&J Course which is the first in Sri Lanka’s boxing life since 2011. Mr. Bandara’s vision is not only to arrange quotas for Sri Lanka but achieve at least one medal in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Kandy is located in the middle of the island and it is famous of its heritages, cultural sides, spice gardens, fantastic nature and the tea plantations on its surroundings. Mr. John Waith of Wales is the Instructor of the 1-star Referee & Judge Course before and during the Clifford Boxing Cup.
The youth competition had 30 bouts in the second competition day and several of them have been decided by RSCs. The elite boxers had mostly closer contests in the opening days of the Clifford Cup in Kandy and all spotlights on their new ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships bronze medallist talent, Umayanga Mihiran.
S.V. Rathnapuli is the new sensation at the women’s minimumweight (48kg) who had an excellent footwork against Air Force’s Sanduni Imesha and her counter-attacking punches guaranteed her success in Kandy.
Army’s Suranga Fernando is an experienced and strong boxer in the national team at the welterweight (67kg). He did not have too much rest after the Asian event, but he looked enough fresh to start well enough in the Clifford Cup.
Air Force’s Chinthana Udayakumara not only competed at the ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Chiang Mai but he was successful in the international tournament in Seychelles as well. The light middleweight (71kg) boxer was too strong for his opponents and he proved his high potential for the gold medal in this division.
Yazmin Usaith also competed at the recent ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships and the 20-year-old talent is the youngest one in the national pool of boxers. He is the main favourite at the men’s middleweight (75kg) and he proved that strong performance against a former National Champion, Army’s Chamil Padmasiri.
The event is broadcasted live on the PEO Sports Digital channels for the first time in order to promote boxing throughout Sri Lanka.
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