Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) boss, Steve Ninvalle, has announced that the Winfield Braithwaite Caribbean School Boys and Junior tournament, which is of vital importance within the Caribbean region, has been rescheduled to August 26 to 28 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown.
This was stated in a GBA release yesterday which informed that the event which was named after Guyana’s 1978 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, has been rescheduled from its initial period of August 19 to 21 in order to assist the competing nations to meet Guyana’s Covid-19 entry requirements.
“This will be the 5th edition of the Caribbean School Boys and Junior tournament. It was scheduled for August 19th – 21st but we had to push it back by one week because we are trying to make sure that the overseas participants can meet Guyana’s Covid-19 entry requirements. We have confirmation from Trinidad, The Bahamas and St. Lucia and we expect Saint Maarten and Grenada also to be a part,” Ninvalle was quoted as saying.
“It is one of the most if not most important competitions that the Caribbean will have simply because of the fact that it is tailored, points to, and is aimed at developing the nursery of the sport. The nursery of course is your most important”, he added.
Thirty (30) pugilists have been shortlisted for the regional championship, with possible national representation emanating from the institutions of Vergenoegen Boxing Gym, Young Achievers, the Forgotten Youth Foundation, Pace and Power, and the Rose Hall Jammers Boxing Gym.
Vergenoegen will be represented by Glaston Winter, Jemuel Jones, Keyon Britton, Markel Blue, Garvel Hyman and Jevon Anthony, while the Pace and Power Boxing Gym participants are Stephon Clarence, and Tofina Barker.
Young Achievers representation will come in the form of Ceafa Chris, Ezekiel Bancroft, Shamaria Isaacs, Kendel Domonic, and Eon Bancroft Jr, whilst Forgotten Youth Foundation will be represented by Tequan Sampson, Chance Niles, Shaquian James, Josiah McPherson, Seon Graham, Dwane Baptiste, and Yusdiel Gala.
Roopesh Balgobin, Jadon Lewis, Isaiah Nurse, Shawn Sabola, Travis Sancho, Matthew Thomas, Joshua Thambarain, Arlington Johnson, Jahuan Haniff, and Akhan English, will represent Ross Hall Jammers’ participation.
In anticipation of the tournament, the GBA has implemented a competitive system which featured U-16 tournaments being conducted twice a month. The local entity also solicited the services of Cuban coach, Francisco Roldan, to assist in the preparatory phase of the squad. Similarly, local coaches and instructors in the form of Lennox Daniels, Selbert Blake, Gregory Cort, and Clifton Moore, are also part of the training period.
According to Ninvalle, “The coaching staff will soon select the national team which will go into encampment. It is a very exciting time regardless of how many overseas participants we get. It’s an exciting time for boxing because the nurseries have been injected with some vigor, vitality and some much needed international competition. Trinidad and Tobago is slated to send the largest overseas contingent, they have nine and they will be followed by the Bahamas. Once we get all the Covid-19 entry requirements met, then we are off to have a very good tournament for want of better words. It is a much needed international competition for the Caribbean.”
The GBA boss posited that the tournament provides the perfect avenue for Caribbean nations to evaluate their respective nurseries, adding “It’s the only one of its kind. This nursery tournament in CARICOM, was first held in Guyana in 2016. The Caribbean had no way of assessing where its nursery was. We [the Caribbean] didn’t have any U-16, school boy or junior tournaments. So what was happening was that all of our Caribbean countries were having their nurseries operate in silos, individually, and there was no way of assessing where each country was as it relates to another nation. So we thought it fit to do that, we took a break in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid-19 and now we are back even though, in my personal opinion, some were hoping that it wouldn’t return and will not support [it]. ”
He further declared, “We are pushing ahead with it regardless because Guyana sees the nursery of our sport of boxing as very important. That opinion is shared by one of our closest partners in Trinidad and Tobago and several others. Mr. Cecil Forde (president of Trinidad and Tobago Boxing Association), Mr. David Christopher (president of the St Lucia Boxing Association) Vincent Strachan (president of the Bahamas Boxing Association and several other presidents in the Caribbean understand this. We cannot afford to let this die, or, we would be doing a great disservice to the sport and those who elected us. If you don’t have a strong and structured nursery then how are we going to get good senior fighters?”
