LOCAL amateur boxing referees and judges (RJ) are in line to receive some assistance from their Caribbean counterparts when the International Goodwill tournament is held here next month. Barbados is set to send two referee/judges to the November event while sister CARICOM state Jamaica is scheduled to send one such official.
Technical Director of the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association, Terrence Poole, yesterday informed that Jamaica’s commitment came from none other than its president Stephen Jones while Barbados’ pledge was received from its secretary Kathy Harper-Hall.
“Those are the commitments relating to officials received so far. It is expected that there would be more by the first week in next month when registration closes,” Poole said. The International Goodwill tournament is being staged at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and runs from November 26 to 29.
Fifteen countries from the region have been invited. Ten have already sent letters of commitment. Those countries are: Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, French Guiana, Jamaica, St Maarten, St Lucia, St Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago.
Barbados has registered 21 boxers and six officials. That number is the largest registered to date, to participate in the upcoming competition. The team includes four juniors, four novices, six youths and seven elites.
The Bajan team would be headed by manager Richard Atwell and includes Harper-Hall, who will act as assistant manager. Barbados’ registration has brought the total number of overseas boxers scheduled to fight in Guyana to 41 with the final figure set to be around 70.
French Guiana has registered 10 boxers and St Lucia six. Both St Maarten and St Vincent and the Grenadines have registered two boxers each. Poole stated that top Caribbean referee/judge, Trinidadian James Beckles, would be in Guyana prior to the tournament to hold a workshop.
Meanwhile, Poole disclosed that with immediate effect, GABA will be placing emphasis on the Code of Conduct designed for local referee/judges. He noted that members of the executive were peeved about recent developments within the R/J community.
The technical director noted that GABA president has since requested a report from R/J Commission Chairperson Ramona Agard.