ST MAARTEN boxing association official yesterday confirmed that a four-member team would be sent to the Caribbean Development Boxing tournament scheduled for next month in Guyana. President of the Island’s boxing association Milton `Bobby’ Ottley contacted the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association yesterday to reveal that his country would be represented by two boxers, a manager and a coach.
St Maarten’s confirmation has pushed the number of countries participating in the mega event to nine as Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, French Guiana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago have confirmed being part of the tournament.
The GABA has planned the four-day tournament for next month and has invited 15 countries including Venezuela. The competition is expected to attract over 10 countries and is set for November 26-29 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
It is geared towards serving as nursery for the production of boxers for Elite competitions staged by the AMBC and/or AIBA, and to give technical officials of the region an opportunity to get much-needed practice in preparation for moving forward in the AIBA training programme.
In addition, the tournament will bring together the best performing Caribbean boxers in a competitive but friendly environment to showcase their skills, to allow for the coaches and referees to also come together in a similar environment where experiences, knowledge and expertise can be shared and to present a forum for talent-spotting and short listing of potential boxers for the 2016 Olympics scheduled for Brazil
The Guyana Olympic Association is providing just about a third of the $6.5M budget associated with smoothly running of the event and the GABA has requested the service of Trinidadian James Beckles to run a five-day Referee/Judge workshop prior to commencement of the tournament.