THIS past Wednesday gave Guyanese boxers, selected to participate in the Road to London programme, exactly one year to complete preparation for the 2012 Olympics Games which will be hosted in London, England. On Wednesday, there were exhibition bouts involving the 16 boxers selected and they showed tremendous potential which needs more polishing to bring out the shine. Ninvalle stated that they will work with these boxers continuously to develop them further and help get boxing back to where it is supposed to be.
Prior to those match-ups, there was a simple presentation ceremony at which the president of the Guyana Olympic Association K.A. Juman-Yassin, Director of Sport Neil Kumar, president of GABA Steve Ninvalle and Deputy British High Commissioner Michael Kearney made remarks.
Also attending the launching was Guyana’s lone Olympic medallist Michael Parris, who won bronze in the sport of boxing 31 years ago.
All the speakers made very brief remarks urging the sport’s participants to put their best foot forward even though there is not a lot of support behind boxing, but once given the chance to participate in the games they should do it to the fullest.
Earlier in the day, the countdown to the London Games began with an official ceremony  at the Umana Yana where Acting British High Commissioner Simon Bond spoke to a small gathering that included members from the various sports in which  Guyana will participate.
Bond stated that they are a proud nation which will be the only country to host the Olympics thrice as they previously held it in 1908 and 1948.
Now, according to Bond, the Olympic Park Sports venues which are being constructed are on time and on budget.
It is expected that the 2012 London Games will see over 14 000 participants from 120 countries that will compete in 26 different sports while the Paralympic Programme is also expected to be a memorable one.