Prisoner from Ceylon at Asian Games 1966

 

Prisoner represents Ceylon

at the Fifth Asian Games at Bangkok in 1966


V. P. Gunapala, also known as Piyadasa, was the prisoner who represented Ceylon in Boxing at the 1966 Asian Games.He was sentenced to serve a term of five years imprisonment for his participation in a gang fight & was serving his sentence at the Welikade Prison. He was small made but tough.

W. J. (Paddy) de Silva was Superintendent of Welikade Prison from 1961 to 1966 , being the most senior Superintendent in the Prisons Service. He was a former Boxing Champion & he organized a number of recreational & religious activities for the benefit of the prison population. Boxing was one such activity, & an improvised boxing ring was prepared within the prison, with the help of Eddie Gray, President of the Boxing Association & a friend of the Superintendent. No government funds or  property were utilised for the purpose. A former Thomian boxer, R. M. J. Peiris trained the boxers, with the Superintendent himself watching & participating in the training sessions, as & when he could spare the time. Over 50 prisoners joined the training class & in the course of time, one of them , V. P. Gunapala proved to be a promising prospect in the Featherweight Class. He was allowed to participate in Boxing Meets, under guard, & at the trials held for the 1966 Asian Games he qualified for a place in the Boxing Team.

Superintendent W. J. (Paddy) de Silva at a training session with Gunapala

 

Gunapala had by then completed a major part of his prison term, & a recommendation to release him prematurely, to enable him to participate in the Asian Games was made to the Ministry of Justice by the Superintendent. His release, subject to good conduct during the balance period of his term, was approved & the way was cleared for his participation in the Asian Games.

Gunapala signing the travel papers.


Ceylon's Contingent to the Fifth Asian Games at Bangkok in 1966` consisted of 43 athletes. They won 6 Bronze medals. Two of them were won by long distance runner, S. L. B. Rosa in the 5000 m & 10,000 m events, two were won by Trevor De Silva in Cycling 800 Metres and 1600 Metres  events & two by  Ranjani Jayasuriya and Wendy Molligoda in the Tennis Doubles event.

Among those in the contingent were Ceylon"s Field Hockey Team led by Freddie White , goal-keeper & brother of the more famous Duncan White, who had won a Silver Medal in the 1948 Olympic Games held in the UK. The Hockey Team was placed fifth out of 8 Teams, having won only one game against Hong Kong. K. Tharmarajah, the reserve goal-keeper who accompanied the Field Hockey Team was then a Jailor at Welikade Prison & later was Captain/Manager of the Ceylon Team after the retirement of Freddie White.

It was the Boxing Team that drew the attention of Ceylonese fans because of the presence of ex- prisoner, V. P. Gunapala. The Boxing Tournament was held in Indoor Stadium Huamark, Bangkok, Thailand from 10 December 1966 to 16 December 1966 Five of our boxers took part.

The results of the boxing matches in which our boxers participated were as follows:

Preliminaries

51kg Hla Shwe of Burma KO W.R.M.Vincent of Ceylon
57kg Frans Suplanit of .......  beat V.P.Gunapala of Ceylon on points
Quarter Finals
48kg Masao Karasawa of Japan beat H. K. Karunaratne of Ceylon on points
54kg Win Maung of Burma beat Mohamed Jamal of Ceylon on points
Semi Finals
67kg Terence Stahlman of Malaysia beat A.C.R.Herathge of Ceylon on points

Gunapala, unfortunately, lost his preliminary round match on points & took no further part in the meet.

Boxing at Welikade Prison came to a halt with the resignation of R. M. J. Peiris to join the state sector & with  the promotion of the Superintendent as Headquarters Superintendent.

 












 




 

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