Ramona Agard and Richard Braithwaite are now in a class of their own.
Agard and Braithwaite are now officially Guyana’s first International Boxing Association (AIBA) certified referee/judges.
The pair sat the one-star AIBA referee/judges exam last December in Barbados and was successful.
The duo was officially issued their certificates and badges yesterday by President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), Steve Ninvalle.
Said Ninvalle, “They are the only one-star referee/judges in Guyana at the moment and they will be putting on the new badges in time for the Caribbean Schoolboys and Juniors Tournament.”
The three-day tournament is scheduled to box off on Friday at the National Gymnasium.
Agard and Braithwaite have now joined coaches, Terrence Poole and Sebert Blake as AIBA certified officials in Guyana.
Ninvalle added, “They are now the highest ranked referee/judges in Guyana and we congratulate them for their hard work and discipline that they exhibited which led to them being successful at the examinations”.
Agard is the Chairperson of the local Referee/Judges Commission.
The GBA President said that this year the aim will be to add more local AIBA certified referee/judges to the roster and also to elevate Braithwaite and Agard to Two-Star status.
For Referees and Judges, the AIBA Star One course and examination was aimed at enhancing the level of referees/judges who are working in domestic and global competitions.
The certification courses for Coaches and Referees and Judges now entitles them to be able to participate in international competitions.
The courses were a mix of theoretical and practical classes emphasizing on the changes in rules and covering all aspects required for being a good AIBA Referee/Judge when officiating.
The lectures were also followed by some exhibition bouts to assess the learnings of the participants.
