Dian Gomes Gloves-up for Second Round
Boxing fanatic Dian Gomes who took boxing to great heights in his first tenure of five years from 2004 to 2008 will put on the glove again when he begins his second round after being elected as the President of the Sri Lanka Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) at the annual general meeting held on Friday at the Royal Sports Arena in Reid Avenue.
Dian speaking to the Sunday Times of his vision and mission said “My lifetime dream and ambition is to see a Sri Lankan boxer win a medal at the Olympic Games.”
In his previous five year tenure Dian came close to it when Anuruddha Ratnayake went on to represent the country at the World Boxing Championship in the year 2007 which paved his way to represent the country at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, a feat after a lapse of four decades.
Dian has been recognised as the architect of the modern day resurgence of boxing in Sri Lanka and in fact he took over the ABA in 2004 when the kitty was penniless and through his professional approach was able to take Sri Lanka to the top and in the process the local pugilists got the opportunity of competing in international boxing meets frequently.
One may even say the sport was in a state of obscurity before Dian took the reigns and executed a development strategy methodically. He was able to rake in the corporate heavyweights on board which bore fruit in the later stages.
He is simultaneously renowned for spearheading one of the best managed companies within Sri Lanka for over two decades and for his next venture we’ve seen him enter a daring partnership as the Chairman of Hela Clothing.
Dian being known for working with “doers and not talkers” has in the essence of his statement, rolled his sleeves up together with his partners and got the show going by not wasting any time in catapulting Hela into the apparel industry. He further aims to make Hela the first public listed apparel organis ation in Sri Lanka.