AFTER successfully pioneering the Caribbean Schoolboys and Juniors tournament, Steve Ninvalle, president of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), pointed out that the country will now host the CARIFTA Boxing Championship from April 11 – 13.

The tournament will mark a return for boxing amongst Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) countries, for the first time since it was last hosted in the Bahamas in 1998.

So far, the Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Dominica, according to Ninvalle, are the countries that would’ve raised their hands in support of the initiative and pledged to participate.

Ninvalle said the hosting of this tournament shows his association’s “unrelenting drive to ensure our Youth, Junior and Schoolboy categories are provided with all the resources necessary to bring them on par with Latin America, Europe and the wider world.”

“It wouldn’t be an easy task but I have a committed executive, Coaches Commission and Referees and Judges Commission. Combined with other external support, I have no doubt that this tournament will be a success,” Ninvalle said.