Gomes’ first stint as the head of the ABA was in 2004 and it was during this successful first tenure that boxer Anuruddha Ratnayake qualified for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. It was after a lapse of four decades, since H.K. Karunaratne in 1968, that Sri Lanka was able to achieve this.
Gomes’ second stint started in 2017 and continues to date, a period during which Sri Lankan pugilists participated in 35 international boxing meets, bagging 35 medals. In the year 2018 Sri Lankan boxers were able to bag three bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia and that was achieved after a lapse of 68 years.
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