Three local pugilists, Ron Smith (69kg), Bert Braithwaite (64kg) and Delon Charles (56kg) winged out to St. Lucia yesterday to compete in a three-night Goodwill Tournament which boxes off tonight.
The tournament comes on the heels of Guyana successfully hosting a tri-nation Goodwill Tournament last month
which involved boxers from St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
St. Lucia’s tourney will see Simon Pures from that island, Guyana, Barbados, Martinique and Guadeloupe matching gloves for medals and bragging rights.
The Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) has ramped up the exposure of its boxers internationally as a means of maximizing the chances of Guyana medalling at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
“I think everyone knows that there has been an upsurge of international competitions around the world and we will not be left behind.” GBA head, Steve Ninvalle told Stabroek Sport recently.
Ninvalle added, “Coming on the heels of our participation in the Horace Phillips Memorial Tournament in Barbados earlier this month where we came back with a 60% winning average, having sent five boxers and three of them won, we have shifted our focus to St. Lucia.
The GBA head noted that the championships will be two-fold since “it will also have a spinoff effect because we will also have a meeting involving the representatives of the Caribbean associations in St Lucia tomorrow.”
Guyana’s contingent is scheduled to return on Monday.
The Horace Phillips Memorial tri-nation Tournament was held on March 8. Boxers from Guyana, the US Virgin Islands and the host competed for medals.
Dawani Lampkin, Dillon Charles and Ron Smith returned to Guyana with gold medals while Clairmont Gibson and Michael April suffered “questionable defeats” according to Ninvalle.
