As GBA Intensify preparation for Olympic qualifier in Thailand
AS Guyana’s top boxers seek to add to the country’s lone Olympic medal, the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) is sending four pugilists to Ecuador for an intense training camp.
Desmond Amsterdam is one of the country’ most successful amateur boxers having secured bronze medals at the Americas Boxing Confederation Championship and the South American Games.
He will be joined by Olympian Keevin Allicock, Joel Williamson and Emanuel Pompey.
President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), Steve Ninvalle, said that ‘they are expected to depart Guyana tomorrow (Monday) for a 12 -day training camp in Ecuador. We would have wanted them to have the training camp in Thailand, but it seems a bit chaotic right now in Thailand because this is the last Olympic qualifier’.
The GBA was hoping to send the team of boxers to Italy for another Olympic qualifier earlier this year but encountered some visa issues which caused them not to participate in that competition.
After the boxers leave Ecuador they will travel to Thailand to earn qualification into the 2024 Paris Olympic Games running from July 26 to August 11.
‘We have communicated with the officials in Thailand and we received correspondence which stated that visas will be issued upon arrival in Thailand’.
‘Ecuador we have no visa requirement, we can go for 90 days without a visa and then they leave from Ecuador and go straight to Thailand’
Ninvalle said he strongly believes they will emerge winners and earn a place at the Paris games after their participation at the qualifiers.
‘We expect the best from them, Desmond Amsterdam and the team and we expect that we should have a qualifier for the Olympics’
He said they have ensured the boxers are well prepared and confident as they go for hardware.
‘I think the readiness, it’s good, it’s about the boxer, it’s not about the physical preparation, it’s the mental preparation and it means they have to come 50 percent with us, we have also included our sports sociologist, who worked with them before
and we believe, we think they will be better prepared than they would have been prepared for Italy’
The long time sport administrator has applauded the support from the Guyana Olympic Association(GOA)Guyana’s lone Olympic medal came in 1980 at the Olympic Games in boxing at the hands of Michael Parris.
The final Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, is scheduled for May 23 – June 3.
The team will be coached by national coach, Lennox Daniels.
