Boxing team in Cuba frustrated, longs to come home

− GBA awaits response from COVID-19 Task Force

The dire situation of four Guyanese boxers in Cuba has deteriorated to the point where the team is desperately asking to be repatriated.

Guyana Times Sport has been constantly checking in with the boxers in that Spanish-speaking island, enquiring about their condition as they await the reopening of the national ports of entry or a charter flight of some sort to bring them home. When this publication made its usual enquiry about the boxers on Friday, it was informed that the situation has taken a turn for the worse.
According to Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) President Steve Ninvalle, the four pugilists are barely coping, having to contend with a lack of food supplies, little to no resources, no money, and their unfamiliarity with the island’s language, Spanish.

“We can’t sleep at this point, sir; we all are up, and we are very, very sad and restless. We need to go home, sir. The food we eat today come up back for us tonight; we send it down back, cause’ same thing happen again yesterday, sir,” team leader Colin Lewis responded when asked about their condition during communication with the GBA President via social media.
Reportedly being housed at the Guyana Consulate in Havana, the boxers are frustrated about the way their needs are being ignored after they had represented Guyana valiantly on many occasions.
“Honestly, personally, we can’t take this no more, sir. We have been keeping quiet for too long, and it’s not well here, sir. We represented Guyana a lot of times with good heart and spirit; they need to let us (come) home,” Lewis pleaded.
Clearly very concerned, Steve Ninvalle has informed this publication that it was painful to hear the most recent update on the boxers.
“Well, it’s painful having to be informed of the deterioration. We would have hoped (that) by this time we would have received a response from the Task Force; whether it’s no, yes, or maybe. There’s not a lot more we can tell our boxers. We’ve asked them to hold on, to be patient, but frustration has clearly stepped into the camp, and we can’t say where we’ll go from here,” he declared.
It is no secret that the Guyana Boxing Association has written to the National COVID-19 Task Force with the hope of working out a way to bring the four boxers home or make their stay a bit more tolerable. It is important to note that the team is expected to receive packages as would the Guyanese scholarship students in Cuba, but this may not suffice.
“I hope that, in the very near future, we would have a response which if favourable and would give a glimmer of hope to these young ambassadors. I can just imagine what is going on, and I would not wish that on anyone,” Ninvalle lamented.
The GBA boss revealed that the National Sports Commission (NSC) is also privy to the letter sent to the Task Force, and Ninvalle is now anxiously awaiting a positive response.
“We have carbon-copied our letter to the Director of Sport, and I’ll be checking in with him again to find out if there’s been any movement forward. It’s been very painful to learn about the deterioration,” the GBA President lamented.
The three-month trip to Cuba was initially a training stint to prepare the four boxers: Colin Lewis, Keevin Allicock, Dennis Thomas and Desmond Amsterdam, for the Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers, which would have been held in Argentina in March. However, the coronavirus pandemic scrapped that event, and before the quad could board a plane back home, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and the Eugene F. Correia International Airport were closed. While that closure was initially for two weeks, it has now been extended into June. (Jemima Holmes)