Guyana’s trio of boxers set to compete at the inaugural Junior Pan Am Games next month in Cali, Colombia stand to benefit from much-improved preparation.
This is according to President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Steve Ninvalle. Along with President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), Kalam Juman-Yassin, he told the media yesterday that the pugilists will be “afforded the services of a nutritionist, a psychologist, a physiotherapist and every single thing that is needed” in order to make their preparation a success ahead of the event.
Further the boxers, Travis Inviary, Patrick Harvey and Alisha Jackman, will also receive $100,000 each from the GOA. Ninvalle explained: “The $100,000 is not for their training programme, it’s just for them to use to cushion the effects and the hardships that they may have.”
The GBA head declared that boxing is on a new footing in the current landscape and he is once again happy that the GOA and the GBA are joining forces to ensure that the athletes are adequately taken care of ahead of the November 25 to December spectacle.
The first Junior Pan Am Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes aged 17 to 22 in the Americas where 315 events in 28 sports are scheduled to be contested.
Juman-Yassin stated that the GOA is happy to be a corner man for the three young pugilists and highlighted that plans were made to have them sent abroad for training but those have since been shelved. Instead, the boxers have been encamped and exposed to high-level training and coaching locally.
Ninvalle, who stated that the GOA has been “the backbone of support for boxing throughout the years” added, “We have coaches that have the highest grading in AIBA and we plan to exploit that.”
The GBA boss also revealed that he has invited Trinidad and Barbados to be part of the high-level training camp to ensure that the boxers’ tools are well honed ahead of the event.
Ninvalle then threw a haymaker by stating that plans are in the pipeline for boxing to have a home of its own. “Our association is seeking and will have its home for boxing. We have already have the architect’s drawing and more information will be released shortly on that,” he concluded.
(Emmerson Campbell)
