By Emmerson Campbell
Over 60 amateur pugilists from nine gyms across the country will vie for trophies and medals when the two-day Pepsi/Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) Under-16 Development Programme boxes off on Saturday on the tarmac adjacent to the Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis gym.
At the launching of the event yesterday in the boardroom of the Ministry of Sport, GABA president Steve Ninvalle disclosed that the tournament will be named in honour of Guyana’s first world champion Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis.
Said Ninvalle: “I can’t really remember a much more exciting time in the history of sports in this country than on February 17, 2001 when Andrew Lewis won his world title and I am still overwhelmed by his performance that night.” He said that the tournament is in Lewis’ honour because he was a good amateur boxer also and “so we will be naming this edition the Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis Under-16 Tournament.”
Two other under-16 tournaments are also scheduled to box off later in the year. According to Ninvalle the next tournament will be held in August in Berbice while the other edition is slated for December at a location yet to be determined.
In brief remarks Vice-President of GABA, Eustace Cuffy thanked Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) which is the main sponsor of the tournaments for their sponsorship and reiterated that these events are essential for spotting and harnessing the talent of young boxers.
Cuffy further stated that these tournaments are important because they help to build a nursery and to prepare boxers to be future Olympians and world champions. This statement was echoed by GABA’s Technical Director Terrence Poole.
Said Poole: “We need to start nurturing them from the junior level, looking down the road in our developmental programme we already missed the 2012 Olympics so we have to look towards 2016 and 2020 and to go that way we have to start looking at the juniors, so we have decided to go on a countrywide junior programme so by 2016 or 2020 we will have boxers who are eligible and capable enough to carry Guyana’s colours at one or both of those Olympics.”
Sales Manager of DDL, Alexis Langhorne said that her company is pleased to be associated with the developmental programme which is geared towards giving aspiring boxers the opportunity to develop their skills at an early age.
Langhorne further stated that for some of the young pugilists, the sport of boxing is their dream and the under-16 tournaments will not only provide a path to professionalism, but also for them to engage in something meaningful.
The DDL sales manager also announced that the beverage giant will provide the world’s number one sports drink, Gatorade to cater for the boxers’ rehydration.
She also encouraged sport loving citizens to attend the event and wished GABA and the boxers a successful and incident free tournament.
Lewis who was also in attendance encouraged boxing fans to support the event.
Bell time is 17:00 hrs and admission is free.
