HAVING gone to the aid of the Guyana Rugby Football Union last month, enabling their participation in both the Pan Am Games and NACRA Championships, His Excellency President Bharrat Jagdeo has once again come to the rescue of another local sports association. This time, the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) is the beneficiary, as the Head of State came to its rescue with a G$2M donation, enabling its participation in the Ronald Wilson Memorial Boxing tournament, to be held in Barbados from November 30 to December 4.
The tournament, involving elite boxers, novices and women, will be staged to honour the ‘father’ of regional amateur boxing, Dr Ronald Wilson, a former president of the Amateur Boxing Association of Barbados (ABAB) and the Caribbean Amateur Boxing Association.
Secretary of the ABAB, Kathy Harper-Hall, disclosed that for over two decades Wilson would close his office and travel the Caribbean to be the official doctor at boxing championships, free of charge.
“The esteem with which Dr Wilson is held in the Caribbean was reflected in the fact that within 24 hours of announcing this tournament, we received positive responses from 12 countries,” she said.
According to president of the GABA and Parliamentary Secretary within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Steve Ninvalle, President Jagdeo’s assistance was timely, while being the perfect shot in the arm, with regard to amateur boxing in Guyana.
“I would like to take this opportunity to express a heartfelt thank you to His Excellency President Bharrat Jagdeo, for this timely injection given to the sport of amateur boxing in Guyana.
“For me, he can be described as the perfect corner-man in amateur boxing and while we know that President Jagdeo has a soft spot for all sports in Guyana, we are extremely grateful for this intervention,” said Ninvalle.
Ninvalle said he had earlier informed the boxers and officials chosen to represent Guyana at the games of their non-participation due to a lack of finance since his Association is strapped for cash, but President Jagdeo’s input brought smiles to the faces of all involved in amateur boxing.
“Having notified the boxers and officials of the GABA’s decision to withdraw the country’s representatives from the tournament, they were as we would have expected lots of sad faces around, but you can picture the turnaround, when they were told: ‘Yes, we are going to Barbados’.
“They themselves asked me to relay to His Excellency, their heartfelt thanks and appreciation for his contribution, since they will be using this tournament to further enhance their preparation for the 2012 Olympic Boxoff which will be held in Brazil, with a view to participating in the Olympics, which will be held in London, England, later next year,” stated Ninvalle.
National amateur boxing coach Terrence Poole will be executing the duties of coach for the tournament and in an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, he thanked the President for his assistance, while he expressed confidence in the team’s success.
Poole said the tournament will give him the opportunity to see his charges exhibit what they were taught in their preparatory camp, even though some of them had the opportunity to do so during the monthly ProAm Friday Night Fights.
Even though all the selected members would not be making it due to pressing duties back home, Guyana will be sending a team of six boxers and four officials to the Games.
Richard Williamson (flyweight), Imran ‘Magic’ Khan (bantamweight), Stephan Gouveia (lightweight) and Ron Smith (welterweight) and Laured Stewart will do battle in the Elite category while Delon Charles (bantamweight) and Rennata David (female flyweight) will compete in the Novices category of the tournament.
The four officials include two referee/judges in Ramona Agard and Keith Campbell, while Lennox Daniels will execute the duties of manager and as mentioned earlier, Poole will coach the team.