How Far Will Manju’s Gold Go In His Quest For An Olympic Medal?

In the golden afterglow of Manju Wanniarachchi’s epic triumph at the Commonwealth Games, it is only natural that the ABA and indeed the boxer himself, should be sanguine about prospects of an Olympic medal in 2012. Of course, even without medal successes, expressions of optimism have been made by previous ABAs too, but the record books of the 114-year modern Olympics say nothing of a Sri Lankan boxer winning a medal.

In other words, claiming an Olympic boxing medal is easier said than done. This is not to belittle the cheery claims now being heard, nor to infer Wanniarachchi isn’t a medal prospect in 2012. He most definitely is, though, not solely because he’s won gold at the Commonwealth Games; his other medal-potential attributes, we’ll deal with in later lines.
Going gaga over last week’s gold is understandable, but it shouldn’t be forgotten the feat is not unprecedented. Commonwealth Games of past also produced a gold medalist (Barney Henricus in 1938), two silver winners (Albert Perera and K. Edwin in 1950) and bronze medalist (Alex Obeysekera, also in ‘50), but none of their names appear in the Olympics’ scroll of medalists; nor is the name of our only Asian Championships gold medalist, H. K. Karunaratne.
However, to advance an argument that, because past Commonwealth Games medalists – all legends – could not lay hands on an Olympic medal, Wanniarachchi, too, won’t, would be absurd. The Commonwealth Games, although not quite globally-representative as the Olympics, is yet an international competition of some significance and performances in them provide a fair indicator of an athlete’s Olympic prospects. So if medals in the 76-nation Commonwealth Games are a yardstick, then, with no disrespect to those old legends, Wanniarachchi seems to have brought the country closest to its first Olympic boxing medal.
Lest old timers partial to past legends rise in protest, I hasten to explain why Wanniarachchi’s gold is of greater value than those won in previous Games. Back in the distant ‘30s and ‘50s, boxing was nothing like what it is today. Those quaint times were spacious; sport was strictly recreational and boxing considered too barbarous to be fun. Hence the numbers in boxing were frugal. So it’s not surprising to be told, by ABA Secretary, Lt. Col. (retd.) Hemantha Weerasinghe, that there were only three, including Henricus, competing for the 1938 feather weight gold
“I have a record of the gold, silver and bronze medal winners of all past Commonwealth Games. The 1938 feather weight lists only one bronze winner (as opposed to the two awarded to both losing semifinalists listed in some other weights) which means there had been just three competitors,” said Weerasinghe. “With three participants, the chances are that Henricus could’ve been the lucky one to draw bye straight into the feather weight final, which would mean the gold was won after just one fight. The details of the records I have, only state that Henricus defeated a Scottish opponent in the final but unfortunately doesn’t give details of the semifinal.”
An interesting statistic of the 1938 Games is the number of countries represented in the boxing competition: 12; Wanniarachchi had to contend with a 21-nation challenge. The numbers weren’t much larger even in 1950. Records in possession of Secretary Weerasinghe show that Perera and Edwin earned silver medals after just two fights each and Obeysekera won bronze after only one.
By contrast, Wanniarachchi had to wade through four opponents – from Seychelles, Kenya, Botswana and Wales – to bring home gold. Arithmetically, what this means is, the 2010 gold medalist fought just one bout less than what Perera, Edwin and Obeysekera did collectively for their medals in 1950.
A comparison of success achieved in two vastly different eras isn’t fair, though. As well, past statistics count for less in determining an athlete’s Olympic future – more so in the case of a present-day boxer. For a start, even Wanniarachchi’s presence at the 2012 London Olympics is far from certain, which wasn’t the case as far as the past legends were concerned. If the ABA of then reckoned any boxer was worthy of Olympic participation, that was enough reason to ship him out to the games.
It doesn’t work that way now: be it gold medalist of what ever games or even defending Olympic champion, the entire lot of boxers to London in 2012 would’ve earned their right of passage at one of the AIBA-designated Olympic qualifying meets, conducted continentally. Anuradha Rathnayake was the first and only Sri Lankan boxer to make it to the Olympics in 2008, since the qualifier system came into being prior to the 1998 Seoul Games – ending the country’s 40-year absence from the Olympic ring; Karunaratne had previously shown the flag in Mexico in 1968.
That being the sternness of the test to qualify for Olympic participation, prospecting Wanniarachchi’s chances of a medal in London would be a tad too presumptuous and premature at this point in time. But on the strength of his record, Wanniarachchi undeniably is our best medal prospect in the London Games and so prospecting his chance is a worthwhile exercise.
His record in brief: Over the past 11 years, he’s been an automatic choice for national duty, remained undefeated national bantam champion for ten straight years and picked up enough international medals to ensure his permanency in the national team. And with silver claimed in the Commonwealth Championships, the precursor to games, last March and then the gold last week, surely any Olympic medal calculations will have to start with Wanniarachchi.
Perhaps, the only factor weighing against him is his age. In 2012, Wanniarachchi would be a ripened 33 years, not quite a champion’s age. The ABA begs to differ. “Anyone claiming that age would be a barrier to Olympic success obviously isn’t aware that when Somjit (of Thailand) won the last Olympics’ fly weight gold medal he was 33,” said Weerasinghe. “Sure, Manju would be 33 in 2012, but he won’t be infirm. After all he defeated an 18-year old in the Commonwealth Games final – proof that experience is a greater virtue than youth. If his preparations are right, his age won’t matter.”
But providing Wanniarachchi with the right preparations at home is a problem. As any boxer will tell you, the most crucial aspect of training is to spar with boxers pretty much as good as you, if not better. “Sparring isn’t shadow boxing – it has to be as close as possible to a real fight if the desired benefits are to be derived. Locally, there aren’t boxers who can give Manju a decent spar,” said Weerasinghe. “He is so far ahead of the rest that others rather not spar with him for fear of being maimed.”
It is fair to say that the local boxing world is too small for him. “Local competitions hold little interest for Manju, thanks to his decade-long undefeated run. And showing indifference to local competition isn’t good for the boxer, which Manju found out in his 11th defence of the national title. He lost,” said Weerasinghe.
That defeat at the hands of airman Suresh, however, was not solely due to indifference. He fought below his body weight, bantam (54 kg), dropping down to fly (51 kg) so as to make way for Slimline BC teammate Saman Silva, also a bantam. Obviously shedding three kilos had taken its toll on Wanniarachchi.
So he came back up to bantam and back to the old problem of a lack of worthy opponents. “My own feeling is, had Manju not spent three months training at a professional boxing club in the US earlier this year, he might not have won the gold. After that US-stint he matured into quite another boxer, he became more thoughtful without losing his old ruthless instincts,” said Weerasinghe. “Clearly, his Olympic preparation has to be outside Sri Lanka, in a country with superior training methods and more importantly, the availability of a variety of sparring partners,” said Weerasinghe.
But as the euphoria of last week is still in the air, let’s not fret too much about future plans. It was nice the way the government reacted to Wanniarachchi’s gold. Following, the President’s prompt congratulatory message to the country’s new hero, the government provided a helicopter to fly him to the celebrations in his home town Kandy. The prime minister and the sports minister went along – sharing the adulation showered on the boxer by a multitude of his home folks. But there’s more these powerful politicians can do than to ‘exalt’ victory celebrations with their presence, before the TV cameras.
It will be nicer if the sports minister decide to make more tangible contributions to Wanniarachchi’s Olympic campaign, like funds to have him trained overseas, so that what we’ve been seeing on our screens won’t be mistaken for politicians’ attempts to make a bit of Bollywood popularity for themselves – on the tired back of a champion.