While the nation’s boxers are forced to sit out due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) is not resting on its laurels.
Recently, its President, Steve Ninvalle organized a virtual seminar which attracted a record 176 participants from around the Caribbean. The seminar which was conducted by Chairman of the AIBA Referee/Judges Commission, Ray Silvas of the USA, saw referees and judges being primarily lectured on the better understanding of AIBA technical and competition rules and understanding the work of referees and judges.
Said Ninvalle who is also the Americas Boxing Confederation (AMBC) Vice President and Chairman of the Caribbean Steering Committee: “We certainly would not let our guards down during this COVID-19 period. We will continue to see the best possible ways and methods of keeping our boxers and officials up to date.”
Ninvalle posited that the virtual seminars will be a plus for the boxers whenever tournaments resume.
“What they (the participants) would have learned there, of course they would pass it on to the boxers which would make for better products in the sense that our boxers in the Caribbean will know how better to fight and how fights are judged. It is quite important and we will continue in this vein.”
Ninvalle who has organized several virtual seminars since the pandemic hit, added that another one for local officials is on the horizon.
“I will continue to see how much we can organize in this vein and very soon our local coaches will be benefitting from a virtual seminar to be held by Guyana’s first AIBA certified International Technical Officer (ITO), Elton Chase.
This also will assist them greatly in their roles and the roles of the boxers in a much better way” he concluded.
The seminar attracted participants from Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and US Virgin Islands. It was one of three in the last two months.
