Sri Lankan boxing referee Nelka Shiromala who got chance to preside in her second Olympics was announced as the second best boxing judge in the world.
After the boxing bouts at the Roland Garros indoor stadium in France, the participating judges were evaluated the day before, and Nelka Shiromala being second among the world’s leading 40 boxing judges is a glory for Sri Lanka at the Olympic Games.This is great achievement by Sri Lanka boxing referee who has many unique records in the Sri Lankan Boxing arena .She is the only Sri Lankan three star women’s referee judge and also became the first Sri Lankan women referee to officiate in Olympics in Tokyo in 2020 ..None of the Sri Lankan boxers got chance to take part in this Olympics but Referee Nelka Shiromala brought honour to Sri Lanka.
This year’s Olympic Games included 13 boxing women’s and men’s events, from the preliminary rounds to the finals, Nelka Shiromala acted as the chief judge in 9 matches and as a referee in 30 matches.
Born in an Asian country, she did not have the chance to judge boxing matches in which Asian athletes participate according to the Olympic rules, but she subsidized to 39 boxing matches that lasted 15 days. In this evaluation award, John Shu from Korea won the first place and Villarino Manuel from Argentina won the third place.
As the International Boxing Association has been disqualified due to corruption allegations, the Paris Boxing Committee was directly responsible for the organization of this year’s competition. In this award, the neutrality of the referees who judged the matches, faithful service free from corruption and good control of the game have been given points.
In 2017, Nelka, who gained the award for the best boxing referee in Asia, made history as the first woman to win the award. Working as a Chief Inspector of the Sri Lanka Police, she claims many records as a boxer as well as a judge. She studied at Rippon BMV Galle later joined Sri Lanka Police and started Boxing and .But she turned out to be boxing referee dominated at National and International meets .Late Herbert Embuldeniya and his wife Eva Embuldeniya gave good support to Shiromala to go forward as boxing referee.
“Receiving this award is truly an honour for Sri Lanka. I am proud to write Sri Lanka’s name on the Olympic boxing ring said Nelka Shiromala . The best judges in the world came for these matches. It is a great honour to be second. said Nelka Shiromala, the first Sri Lankan woman to act as a referee in an Olympic Shiromala was among the first batch of four women to pass the referee and judges examination. Her life changed thereafter and emerged as a star carrying herself with her panache as a referee to become a one-star international official in 2011. She made her international debut, the first from Sri Lanka, at the 2011 Indonesian President’s Cup, where significantly she was the only woman official. Then she was invited to officiate 2011 London Olympic test event where she was awarded a two star qualification just after six months of international refereeing. Later she advanced as a three star referee and World Series Boxing (WSB) referee affiliated to the world boxing governing body, Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur
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