A federation in collapse, a boxing ring still rotting at the Colombo Port and a Sports Minister asleep at the wheel. Sri Lanka Boxing is on the verge of being banned from the international stage, not because our athletes failed, but because the people running the sport have turned negligence into policy and arrogance into governance. The countdown to disaster has already begun and unless someone is removed now, the sport will be buried long before the bell rings.
Sri Lanka Boxing is not losing in the ring, it is being knocked out outside it, strangled by arrogant leadership, ignored by the authorities, and pushed to the edge of an international ban. And at the center of this crisis stands one name: SLBA President Anuruddha Bandara, a man whose actions now threaten the sportโs survival.
A President Running Boxing Into the Ground
Bandara continues to run the Sri Lanka Boxing Association like an unregulated personal fiefdom, ignoring constitutional requirements, defying both IOC-linked directives and national sports regulations and treating accountability like an optional extra.
Under his watch:
- The SLBA has still not resigned from the IBA or joined the WBA as required, now risking Sri Lankaโs Olympic eligibility
- The SLBA has missed major compliance deadlines and broken its own constitution
- The AGM is still not scheduled, an outright violation that alone should trigger suspension or dissolution
- Sri Lanka is days away from being banned from international boxing tournaments
The sport is not being mismanaged, it is being dismantled.
The Boxing Ring Scandal: A Symbol of Decay
Nothing exposes the decay more shamefully than the boxing ring still abandoned at the Colombo Port, a ring donated to strengthen the sport, now wasting away in a warehouse while demurrage charges stack up like a daily reminder of failure. Months have passed. No clearance. No plan. No urgency. No accountability. What should have been a national asset has turned into a financial sinkhole and a public monument to incompetence, the negligence of the SLBA President and the silent complicity of the Sports Ministry. If Sri Lanka canโt even clear one boxing ring, what delusion makes us think we can build world-class fighters?
A Minister Who Claims Power – But Refuses to Use It
And here comes the other guilty party: Minister of Sports Sunil Kumara Gamage, who talks like a reformer, acts like a spectator, and intervenes only when it serves his political optics. This is the same Minister who proudly declared he โsaved Sri Lanka Rugbyโ, whilst publicly everyone knows that he did so by breaking sports law to impress World Rugby. But when the real lawbreaking did happen in boxing, he vanished.
His greatest embarrassment?
The SLBA sent two national teams abroad, one to Seychelles and another to Bangkok without Ministry approval. The President of the association broke the law openly, and the Minister responded by approving the Bangkok tour two days after the event had already finished. Turning a blind eye even when school athletes were forced to beg for donations on social media to pay for their airfare, meals, and even team tracksuits.
What Happens Next?
If this decay continues unchecked, Sri Lanka will not avoid disaster, it will earn it. A full international suspension, the loss of IOC and Asian Games recognition, the collapse of the national boxing pathway, and the death of school, military and club boxing are no longer distant threats, they are the next stage of this negligence.
And when that day arrives, no one will be able to call it a tragedy. It will be a verdict. A verdict delivered by two men, the SLBA President Anuruddha Bandara, who dragged the sport into the gutter and the Minister of Sports Sunil Kumara Gamage, who stood by, arms folded, and watched it drown.
