Suriname’s six-member team, which will participate in tonight’s Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) ‘Developmental Championship’ at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, arrived on local shores yesterday, according to a press release from the local association.
The release stated that the team, which arrived via the overland method, comprises four elite pugilists and two amateur boxers. They are: Donn Sadhoe (lightweight), Valentino Artist (bantamweight), Tony Lin (welterweight), Richard Everd (heavyweight), Domelzo Schet (middleweight), and Leandro Dongo (super heavyweight).
The aforementioned cadre is expected to face off against fighters from gyms such as the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force, the Forgotten Youth Foundation, Pace and Power, and Rose Hall Town Jammers.
The programme, administered by GBA Technical Director Terrence Poole, will also feature bouts in the categories of schoolboys, juniors, youths, and women.
Meanwhile, GBA President Steve Ninvalle said, “The arrival of the Surinamese delegation underscores the importance and significance that this novel initiative has garnered.
The programme, which was born as an attempt to fill an established competitive void, has developed into a mutually beneficial platform, and that is evident by the participation of our Dutch-speaking neighbours.
According to Ninvalle, “Guyana has dominated the English-speaking Caribbean in this discipline, a fact that is not lost on other nations that have opted in the recent past to utilise our shores as a home base for their training cycle and regimen.
This initiative, though infant in its application, adds to that regional awareness and structure that will be beneficial to all sundry and gives further credence to the development that has enveloped and transpired in amateur boxing, which has now undertaken an international persuasion.”
He further said, “The arrival of foreign talents on local soil is always a blessing, as it provides international competition for our emerging fighters. No longer is local boxing devoid of international competition. What the professional realm has struggled to achieve on a consistent basis, the amateur arm of boxing has filled the void with aplomb.”
The competition will culminate tomorrow.
