During the ceremony at the Albouys Street location, Minister of Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, noted that he was happy with the initiatives being taken by the new executive of the GABA to lift the standards of the sport and the exposure young boxers will get in the process.
He explained that GABA had shown vision and forward thinking and with this the ministry will be pledging its support in whatever way it can.
The minister commended the GABA for putting plans in train from such an early date, especially in view of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Anthony also said that if boxing gyms around the country can organise inter-gym tournaments, then the sport ministry would be willing to donate trophies for the various categories.
“I feel if we are to move gyms forward, we need to stage regular boxing cards and the initiative of staging Friday Night Pro/Am fights is a good one and we have made the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall available,” Anthony said.
On the other hand, the GABA has also visited various gyms around the country to evaluate the needs of their gyms with the objective of providing the requisite assistance.
GABA president Steve Ninvalle in a short statement said that prior to the reopening, the gym was in a bad state and he thanked Director of Sport Neil Kumar for the assistance given towards a facelift for the facility.
According to master of ceremonies Maurice Rajkumar, the Harpy Eagles Gym was opened in 1995 by former amateur boxer James Walcott who fought 103 fights and lost eight of those bouts.
Meanwhile, on the card in the 75-79 pounds division Sean Griffith of the Forgotten Youth Foundation (FYF) gym gained a majority decision over Pocket Rocket Boxing Gym’s (PRBG) Joel Williams.
The young boxers displayed great skill and technique for their age but Griffith was the more active boxer, better mover and he landed the cleaner shots.
In other results: Donald Trap ((HE) trapped Jermaine Agard (FYF); Anthone Branch (HE) defeated gym mate Keith Bobbsemple (HE); Orin Bancroft (HE) lost to Kavada Richards (HE); and Keith Allicock gained a unanimous decision over Mark Anthony (HE).
In the Youth Welterweight Division, Ron Smith got a majority decision over Delroy Nero (Republican).
Open/Elite: Devon Boatswain (Army) beat Dennis Thomas (HE); and Thellon Munroe (Rep.) defeated Sherwin Clarke (PRBG).
Exhibition: Stephan Gouveia (HE beat Imran Khan.
