Dian gets elected to world boxing body

Friday, 11 September 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Dian Gomes has been appointed as an Executive Committee Member of the world boxing body of AIBA, the supreme and most prestigious global association dedicated to boxing.

Dian Gomes

Dian needs no special introduction as his name is synonymous with the renaissance of sport in our island. A former Royal College fly weight boxing champion and former President of CIMA Sri Lankan Division, Dian has been a leading corporate personality for the better part of three decades.

First as a Group Director of MAS Holdings then as Chairman of Hela Clothing, where he was instrumental promoting not only boxing but other sports and supporting rural athletes. He currently serves as the Honorary Consul of Georgia in Sri Lanka and on the Board of Nestle Lanka PLC.

Being the current President of Sri Lanka Boxing, he is also fondly known as the ‘Godfather’ of boxing in the country. Dian’s service in taking the nation’s boxing to the international arena and exceeding all expectations since then is truly a magnanimous effort. From getting Anuruddha Ratnayake to compete at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after 40 years; and to get three boxers to win three medals at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane after a lapse of 68 years.

He became the first Sri Lankan to be appointed to the Commonwealth Advisory Board of Sports in 2014 and also the first Sri Lankan to be appointed to the Executive Committee of the Asian Boxing Federation last year.

He has served in the world body first as a member of the Finance Commission, the marketing commission and the women’s commission. He has now been appointed to the Executive Committee of the World Boxing Association (AIBA), where he is the first Sri Lankan to represent the country in this prestigious body; a leap for Sri Lanka in the world policymaking body of boxing.