Boxing to get going with Olympic Qualifiers, World Juniors

— No trouble with funding expected

By Jemima Holmes

The Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) is expected to be busy for the next few months as it plans to send off two teams to participate in international bouts. In April and May, a junior and a senior boxing team will be heading to Poland and Argentina respectively, to participate in the World Junior Boxing Championships and the Tokyo Olympic Boxing Qualifiers.

While funding is almost always an area of concern in most international trips, GBA President Steve Ninvalle is sure of the support this time around.
In a delicate COVID-19 climate, such travel can prove to be tricky in many ways, but international preparation is one of the most concerning.
GBA President Steve Ninvalle, explained the constraints that the local boxing association faced in trying to get boxers to train at a higher level.
“We would have wanted to explore the possibility of having our team train overseas in Cuba. That would have been our first choice, and then our second choice would have been Ecuador. We are not able, at this point, to have that done, reasons being because of COVID. Cuba is not open. The arrangements with Ecuador fell through, too. We were looking at some other options, but time is not with us,” Ninvalle explained.
Ninvalle explained that he is quite confident in the training that the Olympic team received in Cuba last year, while sharing that it is a level playing field for the Caribbean competitors.
“Yes, of course,” Ninvalle answered the probe as to whether or not the quality of training in Cuba last year would transcend. “I think the mental preparation is there, but you also need to have physical preparation; it’s something that goes hand in glove. It goes hand in hand, you’re mentally prepared and physically prepared. If you asked me last year, I think it’s the best possible prepared team that Guyana would have had in decades, but nevertheless, we knew what happened. We, of course, cannot sit on our laurels and say, ‘Well, all we tried last year, and we are trying this year’.”
He continued, “This situation is not unique to Guyana. All other Caribbean countries are actually having that issue. And not only Caribbean countries, but several other countries around the world. So, we would expect that the level of boxing at this qualifier, the standard of it would not be as high as it would be in the years gone by, because the basic fact that people are not getting to train, as it is.”
AIBA three-star coaches Terrence Poole and Sebert Blake will be tasked with getting the local boxers ready, and one area of concern for the GBA boss is the lack of crowd support.
“As it relates to games like the Olympics, that will have a reduced crowd participation that could lend to the level of competition not being as it would have been. You know that. Let’s look at cricket or any other sport: when the crowd is there, that is like an injection of energy. I’m not saying that there will be no energy, but I think that there will be less energy.
“We’re just humans, and we like to have the crowd around. So, we don’t know how much that is going to affect our boxers,” Ninvalle highlighted.
One aspect of preparation that will not affect the Guyanese contingent’s prospects is funding. According to Ninvalle, he has no worries about getting costs in order.
Ninvalle assured, “We are quite confident of being able to be supported by the Government and by the Guyana Olympic Association in order to get these teams to the competition.”
The topic of funding circled to the need for support in event of a bounce-back for sport when the COVID-19 pandemic is under control. In this light, Ninvalle also asserted that he is sure there would be assistance afforded to himself and other associations.
The GBA boss posited, “Boxing has been hit very hard, the sporting fraternity in Guyana and around the world has been hit very hard by COVID, and we’ll have to wait and see how some sport disciplines recover from this. The only way we will be able to recover fully and adequately is if you have the support, and if you ask me about my sport discipline. I don’t want to be selfish, but I can only speak for the Guyana Boxing Association. If you ask me if my sport discipline feels confident of being supported in its quest to recover, yes, I’m confident about it.”
Each team consists of 4 boxers with one female. The seniors will head to Buenos Aires, Argentina from May 10-16 for the Olympic Qualifiers, while the juniors will head to Keilce, Poland from April 10-24.
The Olympic qualifying team will consist of bantamweight Keevin Allicock, Middleweight Desmond Amsterdam, Light Welterweight Colin Lewis and Canada-based Taveena Kum (Flyweight) who is of Guyanese parentage. Dennis Thomas, who was part of the initial team in 2020, has opted out, owing to personal reasons.
Meanwhile, Caribbean Junior Champion Abiola Jackman will be the lone female in the Junior World Championship team.