Chandrabandara advances to Asian Games boxing round of 16

Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Chandrabandara advanced to the men’s 70kg light middleweight round of 16 with a 4-1 victory over Yemen’s Saeed Mustafa at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on Monday.

The 35-year-old controlled the preliminary-round bout and earned the verdict of four of the five judges to secure his place in the pre-quarter-finals.

Chandrabandara, a former student of St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy, represents the Sri Lanka Army Sports Club. A national champion, he is among Sri Lanka’s most experienced boxers competing at the Games.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Rukmal Prasanna is scheduled to face Iraq’s Abbas Hamban on Tuesday in the preliminary round of the men’s 55kg bantamweight event.