Fresh off the successful hosting of the third Caribbean School Boys and Juniors Tournament last week, it was disclosed that this year’s Caribbean Senior Championships will also be staged here in December.
According to President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), Steve Ninvalle, the annual fixture, previously held in Barbados and St Lucia, will return to the 592 on December 6.
Ninvalle then noted that it will be advantageous for Guyana which hosted and won the event in 2015.
“It’s beneficial for us to host rather than to go to another Caribbean territory. When it was held here in 2015, we won the championship. So with it being held here, all of our boxers will be able to compete and not only our boxers, all of our referees and judges will be able to participate at another senior international competition.”
Ninvalle disclosed that it would cost the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) in excess of $7M to compete with a full strength contingent overseas.
He added that an International Technical Official (ITO) course and a Star Two Referee/Judges Examination are also being planned for December.
“Also on the cards is for us is to have ITO courses here and we are now negotiating to see if we can have a Star Two Referee/Judges Exam here as well. So these are the benefits we would have because if we had to send a team to Barbados or Trinidad.”
In 2016 when the event was staged in Barbados, Team Guyana sent 11 boxers and returned with 10 gold medals and a silver. Said Ninvalle “Last year, we did not have the adequate finances so we were not able to send a full team, we were only able to send four boxers. This year however, we will be at full strength.”
