THE Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) and its French Guiana counterparts are collaborating to assist in the development of the boxing in the Guianas. GBA president Steve Ninvalle yesterday met with a team from French Guiana including the country’s Technical Director and two fighters. The team arrived here on Tuesday for a one-week visit and later met with GBA Technical and Tournament Director Terrence Poole at the Andrew `Six Head’ Lewis Gym. Ninvalle said French Guiana is interested in having its fighters train here, and have all-round cooperation with Guyana.

In the initial stage French Guiana has asked that two of its fighters have a short training stint in Guyana.
“They brought two boxers here and have asked that they train with our fighters for the duration of the stay in Guyana,” Ninvalle added. “We are happy to oblige and asked our Technical Director to render assistance.” The foreign fighters are preparing for the French national championships to be held in France this month end. Yesterday’s discussion also centred on the creation of an Inter-Guiana Boxing competition, sometime this year.
Just last month, GBA had talks with the president of the Suriname Boxing Association Remie Burke who visited Guyana. Burke too expressed the desire for the creation of the Inter-Guiana competition.
“I think that we are now much closer to realising that dream. It is now to hold a meeting of the three presidents so that concrete arrangements can be laid out,” Ninvalle disclosed.
According to Ninvalle, there is now a possibility of French Guiana participating in the DDL Under-16 competition later this year.
The team from the French-speaking country also verbally invited Guyana to its next competition, to be held in Cayenne in March. The team returns home on Tuesday.