THE sixth Winfield Braithwaite Caribbean Schoolboys and Schoolgirls Three-day Boxing tournament concluded in Guyana in the wee hours of the morning on Monday with the host country winning its sixth consecutive team title.

Steve Ninvalle, President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), who did a wonderful job of organising the tournament, which was inaugurated in 2016, said the return of this tournament after a two-year hiatus was very important for the development of amateur boxing in the Caribbean.

“This tournament is the Olympics of youth boxing for CARICOM, and it’s improving. We had four teams coming for this tournament, and next year it will be bigger and better, and with more teams” said the GBA Head.

Ninvalle, who first attained the helm of the GBA in 2009, praised the work of his Executive, led by Seon Bristol, and everyone who worked behind the scenes.
“We have to sensitise the public about Boxing, and encourage the parents to let their children become involved in the sport. I am impressed by the growing number of females, and the standard they are achieving,” posited Ninvalle, who became Guyana’s Director of Sport in May 2021.

Ninvalle thanked the GOA, Minister Charles Ramson and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport for their support.
“This is the only such competition in the Caribbean, and many of those who are successful in their careers in the sport have participated in this tournament,” said the former Sports Journalist who covered the bout for Stabroek News when Guyana’s first world title was achieved by the late Andre ‘Six-Heads’ Lewis.
Ninvalle reminded his audience that Mike Parris, who’s won Guyana’s only medal in the sport to date, also won the only Olympic medal in boxing in the English-speaking Caribbean when he won Bronze in the 1980 Games in Moscow.

When asked how long he thinks it will take for Guyana to get another Olympic Medal in Boxing, with only Keevin Allicock qualifying for the Olympics in the last decade, Ninvalle said:
“With more boxers going to other big events like the World Championship, these tournaments are just like the Olympics in the standard, and GBA is putting in the work and developmental programmes to give our boxers the best chance of winning medals at the big events.”
Guyana is considered the engine room of amateur boxing in the English-speaking Caribbean.