… Guyana’s five-member team Olympic dreams in limbo

THE Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) has been informed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Americas Boxing Confederation (AMBC) that the Americas Olympic Qualifier for boxing has been cancelled because of fear of spread of the Coronavirus.

The Qualifier was scheduled for March 26 to April 4 in Buenos Aries, Argentina. Guyana was scheduled to send a team of five boxers and three coaches to the tournament.

It follows a move from the Government of Argentina to restrict international events in the country with immediate effect.

The boxing tournament at Tokyo 2020 will be run by an International Olympic Committee (IOC) task force after the International Boxing Association was stripped of involvement for a series of governance issues.

The IOC Boxing Task Force (BTF) announced the decision yesterday, the latest in a long list of events that have been cancelled because of COVID-19.

“The BTF understands and respects the decision taken by the public authorities of Argentina during this difficult time worldwide.  We are searching for the appropriate solution for this unexpected situation and will immediately inform the National Olympic Committees, National Federations and other impacted parties as soon as further information is available,” the task force said in a statement.

Officials now face a headache in creating a fair qualification system for all athletes, with the African event in Dakar already completed and the Asia-Oceania competition finished in Amman yesterday.

GBA president Steve Ninvalle called the cancellation a major setback but reasoned that it was done for the safety of all involved.

“We have already spent a hefty sum securing tickets and insurance for the boxers and coaches. Those moneys are not refundable. We had also timed preparation of four of the boxers to peak just before the Qualifier. We will now have to await information from the IOC regarding if there would be a rescheduling,” Ninvalle said.

“The spread of the Coronavirus is a very serious issue and for that alone we accept without reservation the decision to cancel the tournament,” said the GBA head.

With the support of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) and the Government of Guyana, GBA dispatched Keevin Allicock, Desmond Amsterdam, Colin Lewis and Dennis Thomas for a three-month trading stint in Cuba.

The stint is scheduled to conclude next week. They would have been joined by Canada-based Taveena Kum at the Qualifiers. The coaches were Terrence Poole MS, Sebert Blake and Cuban Francisco Roldan. Ninvalle said that he has sent off a message informing the boxers and had called president of GOA, K. Juman-Yassin to update him. Efforts to contact Director of Sport Christopher Jones proved futile.

Meanwhile, Ninvalle informed that in light of the recent cancellation, GBA is planning an international card for early April, stating that “we have to make sure that at least the four from Cuba remain active. I am in discussion with Trinidad and hopefully by weekend we will have concrete information”.