THE annual and highly anticipated 6th Caribbean Schoolboys and Junior Championships is programmed for August 18th-20th on local shores, and the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) will commence its rigorous selection process from Sunday.
The process begins with the staging of the monthly under-16 Championships at the Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis Gym, Albouystown.
Based on the results from the aforementioned tournament, boxers will be selected and subsequently encamped two weeks prior to the prestigious regional championship, the only one of its kind in the Caribbean, to commence the preparatory phase.

The competition, which is the brainchild of the incumbent GBA chief, Steve Ninvalle, and will be staged at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, commenced in 2016 and has featured an expanding list of nations with each edition.
At the moment, the 2023 iteration has confirmed the participation of the largest contingent in the event’s burgeoning history, with confirmed representation emanating from the likes of Aruba, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and The Bahamas. Guyana has emerged as the overall Champion country in each edition.
Similarly, the GBA, in an effort to improve the quality of its training and preparatory apparatus, will conduct a Referees/Judges training seminar from August 14th-17th.

The yearly forum, which will be administered by Three-Star trainer James Beckles of Trinidad and Tobago, is being staged to sensitise and educate the respective participants on the new rule changes that have been implemented by the world governing body — the International Boxing Association (IBA) — to ensure uniformity and clarity.

President Ninvalle said, “There is no obligation to or for success. In basic parlance, what was subsequently reaped is what was initially sowed, and as such, the GBA has again demonstrated its visionary approach and aptitude for success via the implementation of programmes, policies, and initiatives that drive this empirical agenda and mandate. Unarguably, the Caribbean Schoolboys and Junior Championships, which is a unique platform in the region, especially in the English-speaking strata, not only form but is the backbone of Guyana’s future in the discipline. It is our most important element in sustaining our dominance at the various levels in the region, and has effectively, evolved into the de facto World Championships of the region, something that the Guyanese public and sporting fraternity should be proud of.”