TWO females are among 10 persons who successfully completed an International Boxing Association (IBA) Refree/Judge’s course which concluded yesterday at the Olympic House, High Street, Georgetown.The course which was conducted by IBA qualified Refree/Judge Instructor James Beckles of Trinidad and Tobago over a five-day period, saw Nicola Yhap and Paulette Marks successfully completing the theory and practically aspects of the course for level one and two Refree/Judges respectively.
While congratulating the successful participants, President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Steve Ninvalle alluded to thye fact that there is a gender gap in most sp[ort disciplines.
Ninvalle, a former sports journalist and now Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport, noted that this is the course instructor’s, James Backles, third boxing related visit to Guyana and every time he comes here on behalf of the IBA’s assingment, a female is always added to the GBA’s cadre of officials.
“today I think boxing has scored a knock-out punch and it is very important that we have workshops and seminars for the further development of the sport” Ninvalle stated.
Ninvalle said Guyana will be hosting a Goodwill tournament next month and has extended invitations to Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia and to date, Jamaica has confirmed that they would be sending four boxers and two officials for the tournament which is slated for February 14-16.
He said Barbados has indicated that they would not be available as they would be having two tournaments around the same time.
Confirmation from Trinidad and Tobago as well as from St. Lucia is expected by tomorrow.
He said an invitation is expected to be sent to Cuba “as we need to have our boxers compete against the best there is in the world in order to develop ourselves” Ninvalle remarked.
The Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport used the opportunity to extend an invitation to Beckles to return to Guyana to officiate in the Goodwill tournament.
Beckles’ sojourn to Guyana for the five-day seminar was funded by the National Sports Commission whose Director of Sport Neil Kumar lauded the efforts of the GBA to further develop the sport which has brought Guyana its only Olympic medal to date, that being the bronze medal that Michael Parris won at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Kumar, in delivering the feature address, said the National Sports Commission is in the process of securing a new boxing ring from overseas and has already procured a set of boxing gear and equipment which will be donated to the various clubs across Guyana.
Kumar congratulated the females who successfully completed the course and urged them as well as the male participants to make the best of what they learnt during the five-day duration of the course.
The Director of Sport challenged the GBA to establish new clubs and get more youths involved in the fistic sport.
Beckles in his presentation said Guyana is one of the first Caribbean countries to introduce the electronic scoring system and this will help to bolster the image of the sport.
He however noted that with the electronic system, the judges will have to be very focused when they are judging a fight.
Beckles noted many persons at boxing matches judges a bout from what they see and when the results are announced, it’s different from what they thought.
He added that with the electronic system, once the judges remain focused, there would be no confusion when the results are announced.
He said the 10 participants were very receptive and there was a sense of oneness among him and them.
Beckles thanked the GBA for inviting him to conduct the course and the National Sports Commission for off-setting his expenses.
The other successful participants are; Leonard Wilson and former Guyana middleweight champion and World Boxing Association Middleweight contender Wayne Harris who both did the Level One course, Eustace Cuffy, Alan Waddle Marcell Daniels and Elton Chase who successfully completed the Level Two Course and Keith Norville and Richard Braithwaithe who did the Level Three course.
Certificates of appreciation were presented to Beckles, course coordinator Terrence Poole and Romona Agard.

(By Michael DaSilva)