IN recognition of Guyana’s 1980 Olympic bronze medallist Michael Parris’ 30th anniversary, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has adopted and agreed to sponsor the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association’s (GABA) National Open Boxing Championships.
To this effect, the championships will now be named the Michael Parris National Open Boxing Championships and will be held at a venue to be named from September 10 to 12.
According to president of GABA and Parliamentary Secretary within the MCYS, Steve Ninvalle, the decision to have the MCYS collaborate with his association was arrived at following a meeting of Minister of Sport Dr Frank Anthony, Director of Sport Neil Kumar and himself.
“This move augurs well for amateur boxing in Guyana, as it is a shot in the arm when we look at what we are trying to achieve with the ProAm bouts being held in collaboration with the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC).
“Certainly, Parris’ achievement is an unprecedented and historical one and while some may say the renaming of the National Open Championships in his honour is minor, his feat will serve to encourage our young boxers who wish to compete at the Olympics, which is the pinnacle of amateur boxing.”
In an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, the 52-year-old Parris said he was honoured to hear of such good news, after being frustrated all those years.
“I am honoured to know that something has happened after all these years. In all honesty, I was frustrated knowing that such an achievement (winning the medal) was a great one, but yet still I was not rewarded for it, not even a national award.
It is nice to know that after 30 years, I am finally being recognised by the government and I wish to say thank you from the depths of my heart and at the same time, hope my achievement 30 years ago would serve as a motivator to the amateur boxers in our country today.”
Kumar said the National Sports Commission (NSC) has decided to join forces with GABA to acknowledge Parris’ feat and they will be sponsoring the Michael Parris National Open Championships in full annually.
“We are impressed with the ProAm fights, a card which sees our amateur boxers performing exceedingly well on. We decided to rename and sponsor on an annual basis, the GABA’s National Open Championships in recognition of Michael Parris’ historic achievement 30 years ago, while the NSC will be hosting a dinner at a venue and date to be announced for Parris,” stated Kumar.