This weekend’s Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Terrence Ali National Open championships is set to have an international flavor.
That is according to president of the GBA Steve Ninvalle who said that the Suriname boxing association will be sending two representatives while the GBA is awaiting word from Trinidad about its participation.
Ninvalle yesterday gushed about the many positives that the GBA’s final year-end tournament will bring about.
“It’s the last, it’s the first and it’s also historic, Ninvalle waxed.
“It’s the last statutory competition for the year. It’s the first, meaning that it’s the first time that we will have our elite boxers being given prize money for winning bronze, silver and gold medals, and its historic in the sense that it’s the first time that this will be happening in the entire Caribbean,” he told Stabroek Sports in an invited comment.
Guyana is set to become the first country in the English-speaking Caribbean to financially compensate its elite amateur pugilists come Friday when the championships get underway at the National Gymnasium.
The GBA aims to improve on the popularity of the sport and continue its upward development and has decided to
financially compensate the top three finishers in each weight class of the elite division.
“We’re just following the footsteps of IBA which used to be AIBA,” said Ninvalle.
“They’ve started rewarding boxers at the world championships for winning gold, silver and bronze medals to the tune of 200,000, 100,000 and 50,000 US dollars. “It’s also been done at the confederation level (AMBC) so we thought it fit to do it. Of course we will not be able to rival the amount of money that IBA is giving but it’s a significant move and a significant shift in amateur boxing in Guyana and across the Caribbean,” he declared.
“This tournament that starts on Friday is also expected to have an international flavor. Suriname has confirmed two boxers and we are still trying to have two female fighters from Trinidad. We will have confirmation on that tomorrow (today). The Surinamese are expected in Guyana tomorrow,” he disclosed.
The three-night event will be headlined by ‘Dynamite’ Desmond Amsterdam, who is the highest ranked local IBA pugilist on 23and the 54th ranked Keevin Allicock.
Amsterdam is a bronze medallist at the Americas Boxing Confederation Championships (AMBC) and at the South American Games while Allicock is also a South American Games bronze medallist.
The two are favoured to win gold in their respective categories.
