Head coach of champion Royal College boxing team, Abdullah Ibunu said technical punching and accurate footwork, together with hard training, turned out to be the key factors towards their success at the Stubbs Shield Boxing Championships concluded at the Royal MAS Boxing Arena earlier this week.
The former Royal captain, who had emerged champion boxer in his weight category at four previous Stubbs Shield meets, said accurate technical punching, along with perfect foot movements paved way for their success at the most prestigious boxing meet in inter-school sports calendar. Thus, Royal regained the coveted Stubbs Shield after three decades. “We have come closer to the title on many a times but have either emerged joint champions or missed the title by a point or two to emerge runners-up. But we were well focused this time take sure that we win the title after 30 long years,” said Ibunu who has been coaching Royal boxing team since leaving school in 2005, initially as assistant coach and now as the head coach.
Having successfully completed his AIBA one star level coaching in Switzerland, he has been able to incorporate the knowledge he had gained and long experience as a Stubbs Sheild boxer to his team.
“Our boxers richly deserved this magnificent victory for sacrifices they have made.
We prepared for more than three months with a residential training camp during last months in our lead up for the Stubbs Shield. That paid rich dividends as our boxers came out with some powerful punching with correct technique to make their presence felt in a big way,” said Ibunu who had boxed for Royal from 1998 to 2005, captaining the Reid Avenue school in his last two years.
“There are no instant paths towards success in boxing, but hard work and dedication. Hence, we really worked hard and believed in ourselves. The boys began their daily workouts as early as five o’clock in the morning. After a two-hour morning session, they trained for another four hours in the evening, making in a comprehensive and hard training period for three months,” said Ibunu who had the honour of captaining the Sri Lankan Under-19 team in 2004, securing the fifth place at the World Junior Boxing Championships in Jeju, South Korea in 2004.
Royal’s stunning performance in winning four gold medals, two silver and two bronze medals made them the worthy winners of the much sought after Stubbs Shield.
When talking about Royal’s success story, one cannot forget the immense contribution by former ABA President and the godfather of Sri Lanka boxing Dian Gomes. It was his new company Hela Clothing which has backed the Royal team as the proud sponsor.
“Finally, it was a great team
work, skills and dedication of the boxers and the right guidance and support from Principal and several old boys including Dian Gomes and Aubrey Peiris. Several Royal College Union members including Secretary Athula Munasinghe and former Secretary Manju Ariyaratne and Lakshman Amarasekera backed us whole heartedly. Senior Games
Master Riyaz Aluher too has been a tower of stremngth,” Royal’s head coach said.
Second year coloursman M.M.A. Ahamed led the victorious Royal team which also annexed the National School Games 2017 boxing crown. In U.M.B. Neranjana Royal also produced the winner of the best boxer’s award at the Stubbs Shield meet.
Taking Royal towards the Stubbs Shield were gold medallists P.Samarasinghe (75kg), H.V.D.Hettiarachchi (56kg), Neranjana (56kg) and captain Ahamed (52kg) while M.A.M.Aseen (60kg) and V.Attygalle (64kg) won silver medals.
M.I.M.Ishaq (52kg) and A. Altaf (49kg) won bronze medals for Royal.
Ever since the introduction of boxing to Royal way back in 1913, boxers from the Reid Avenue school have performed creditably at the inter-school boxing tournaments as well as in all island boxing tournaments. Royal Boxing Club was founded in late 1985 by an enthusiastic band former
Royal College boxers and it has now turned out to be an asset to them.
Performance of Royal boxers at the Stubbs Shield meet:
M.M.A. Ahamed (Royal) beat V.I.P. Eroshan (Vidyarathne College Horana) in 52kg final, H.V.D. Hettiarachchi (Royal) beat J.K.D.T. Rashmika (Vidyarathne College Horana) in 56 kg final, U.M.B. Neranjana (Royal) beat S.G.A.T. Jayarathne (Dharmaraja College Kandy) in 56kg final, M.A.M. Aseen (Royal) beaten by A.L. Lakthilina (Vidyarathne College Horana) in 60kg final, V. Attygale (Royal) beaten by R.D.A.P.M Kularathne (Dheerananda College , (Pilimathalawa) in 64 kg final, P. Samarasinghe (Royal) beaten by R.A.S. Ranasinghe (Vidyartha College Kandy) in 75kg final.
In the semi-finals, R.A. Altaf (Royal) lost to S.M.K.S. Bandara (Dheerananda College, (Pilimathalawa) in 49kg and M.I.M. Ishaq (Royal) was beaten by J.K.P.J.Kumara (Vidyarathne College Horana) in 52kg.