A contingent of seven amateur boxers, including one female and four officials will wing out today for Barbados to compete in the inaugural Ronald Wilson Memorial tournament.
The boxers will include Richard Williamson (Flyweight elite), Delon Charles (Bantamweight novice), Imran ‘Magic’ Khan (Bantamweight elite), Stephan Gouveia (Lightweight elite), Ron Smith (Welterweight elite), Laured Stewart (Welterweight novice) and the lone female Rowena David (Featherweight).
Keith Campbell, Ramona Agard, Lennox Daniels and Terrence Poole will be the officials. Poole will serve as coach, Campbell and Agard will serve as referee and judges while the team will be managed by Daniels. According to Poole who is also the tournament coordinator of Guyana Amateur Boxing Association, (GABA), Williamson, Khan, Gouveia, Smith and Stewart are boxers who are on the road to the London Olympic team and will use the tournament as part of their preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Poole added that the team has been preparing for the tournament for quite some time and he expects them to return with medals.
“The team has been preparing for about six months now with many tournaments in between. I expect them to give a good account of themselves, I think all of them will turn in good performances in their categories, this is one of the tournaments we will be using as preparation for London so we expect them to try and impress us,” Poole said.
President of GABA Steve Ninvalle echoed Poole’s statements by stating that he expects a good performance from the pugilists.
Ninvalle added that this 11-member contingent is one of the largest that has departed Guyana in recent times and he praised President Bharrat Jagdeo for funding the team to the tune of two million dollars.
GABA’s president also stressed the need for the boxers to be good ambassadors for Guyana while encouraging them to keep the Golden Arrowhead flying high.
The competition which will attract 10 other Caribbean nations, including host Barbados, will commence tomorrow and end on Saturday. The team is expected to return to Guyana on Sunday.
