The country’s top U16 box16 boxers will be on show today as the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) continues its focus on its developmental youth programme with the resumption of the monthly Pepsi Mike Parris School Boys and Girls Junior Championships at the Andrew “Six Head” Lewis gym, Albouystown today from 1pm.
The recommencement of this monthly apparatus comes in the wake of the recent Winfield Braithwaite Caribbean Schoolboys/Juniors Championship, which was hosted from August 18th – 20th at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, and featured the overseas participation of Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Steve Ninvalle, President of the GBA, said, “This is simply the resumption of our regular programming which is the emphasis on the continued evolution of our nursery programme. This initiative is the proverbial bread and butter or staple of the association’s long-term development framework and continues to provide empirical evidence of its success by creating and maintaining an assembly line of talents that have continued to dominate the English-speaking Caribbean region. This was on full display at the recently held Winfield Braithwaite Caribbean Schoolboys and Juniors Championship, where Guyana won the most medals and emerged once again as the overall champion. The GBA will continue to institute this programme and
will expand on its scope with the introduction of other participating gyms, which will add another dimension to the apparatus.”
The weigh-in and medical examinations of the respective pugilists for the competition, which will be supervised by GBA Technical Director Terrence Poole, will occur at 10am today at the same facility. The event is open to all the gyms affiliated with the local governing body.
Several fighters who competed in the prestigious Caribbean Championship will enter the squared circle.
Technical Director Poole said, “This is the normal U16 tournament that is held monthly, and while we are not sure how many gyms will be competing, it is open to everyone, and participation will be confirmed at the registration.
As of now, all the gyms have been invited to compete. This is very important for the youth as we continue to work on our nursery programme. That is our focus because the more competitions that are staged will lead to more experience.
This is what develops the fighters for the future because we will need them to transition and take over from the seniors in the not-so-distant future, so we have to continue this process.”
