Guyana’s chances of medaling in the sport of boxing at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will rest on the shoulders of Dennis Thomas and Desmond Amsterdam.
But first, the duo must get past their respective opponents at the Olympic Box Off scheduled to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from March 8-20.
President of the Guyana Boxing Asso-ciation (GBA), Steve Ninvalle believes Thomas who fights in the middleweight division and Amsterdam (light heavyweight) have fighting chances to qualify for Rio.
“We selected two boxers for the Olympic Box Off because we think that both of them stand good chances,” Ninvalle opined yesterday. Both of them are experienced and we think that they can qualify because that is the only reason we selected them.”
In the same breath however, Ninvalle stated that the association is still battling finances on the ropes after hosting the Caribbean Goodwill Tournament late last year and would need sponsorship to send the duo to the Argentine capital.
“The only way we would be able to send these boxers is if we accrue sponsorship,” Ninvalle noted.
“We still haven’t recovered from the Goodwill Tournament last year and we really want to send them that is the only way we can qualify for the Olympics.”
Ninvalle also disclosed that Terrence Poole and Sebert Blake were the coaches selected by the association to be in the corners of the boxers on the qualifying mission.
Note: Amsterdam was a gold medalist at the Caribbean Goodwill Tournament held here last November.
