President of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) Peter Abdool feels that having a strong amateur boxing programme will be beneficial to professional boxing and as such is calling for funding for amateur boxers.
According to Abdool, the government should help fund amateur boxing along with the world governing body AIBA.
“The Guyana Boxing Association is the amateur body and well and ably handled by (Steve) Mr. Ninvalle and crew. As the amateur body, they are essentially tasked with promulgating the sport at an amateur level, funding competitions and honing the skills of our youngsters and guiding them to Olympic glory which is the ultimate pinnacle of the sport at the amateur level,” said Abdool in a wide ranging interview on the state of professional boxing in Guyana. “Funding, therefore, for the amateurs, should be nationally driven and should emanate essentially from government coffers through the Ministry of Sport,” he said.
“Further, it should be supplemented and heavily so by AIBA, which is the international amateur body that does indeed have regional funds available to assist governments and the local amateur bodies in the development of the sport,” he added.
Abdool also touched on the present situation with AIBA which is set to have elections next month.
“AIBA is a wealthy organization funded by many sources including the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Unfortunately, AIBA, over the last several years, has been found to be involved with numerous scandalous, corrupt practices and is generally regarded as a tainted organization to the extent that the IOC has, at one point questioned its authority,” Abdool said.
Although he feels that AIBA should assist the national federations that come under its umbrella, Abdool said that he was unsure as to what level of funding the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) has received from AIBA if any.
“I do not believe that Guyana has ever gotten proper funding or indeed funding of any kind from AIBA, meaning that Mr. Ninvalle and crew are essentially left to the budgetary constraints of the government of the day dictating therefore, a far less than focused approach to the development of the sport at an amateur level and therefore exposing progress to the vagaries of politics,” he argued.
“In many respects, that has in no small way contributed to the fact that Guyana has produced only one Olympic medal to date throughout its history in amateur boxing. It is certainly not a reflection of what I have always believed to be a most disproportionate pool of natural boxing talent that exists among our Guyanese youth. Notwithstanding this, it is noteworthy that Guyana’s sole Olympic medal has come from boxing,” said Abdool.
That lone medal was won way back in 1980 by Michael Parris and GBA president Steve Ninvalle has been leaving no stone unturned in his efforts to see Guyana win another medal.
A medal for Guyana at next year’s Tokyo Olympics would help cement Ninvalle’s legacy as an administrator of substance and his hopes of winning a medal has rested on the shoulders of a quartet of boxers who will look to next year’s Olympic Qualifiers for a chance to qualify. The last boxer to qualify for the Olympic Games was John Douglas way back in 1996 at the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, United States of America.
Now Keevin Allicock, (the only Guyanese boxer ranked by AIBA) Colin Lewis, Desmond Amsterdam and Dennis Thomas, have been tasked with not only qualifying for Tokyo but winning a second medal for Guyana at the IOC showpiece event.
Earlier this year, the four boxers travelled to Cuba along with two coaches where they underwent preparation for the Olympic Qualifiers scheduled for March 26- April 3 in Argentina. However the Covid 19 pandemic not only caused the Qualifiers to be put off but also caused the boxers to be stranded in Cuba for 126 days. They have since returned to Guyana but the uncertain climate means that they are not sure when the Qualifiers will be held. However funding to assist their preparation would greatly enhance their chances of qualifying for the Olympics.
