GBA President Steve Ninvalle grateful for boxing’s ‘bounce back’ year

Being a full-contact sport, Boxing was one of the last of Guyana’s core sports to get going following the coronavirus pandemic. While 2021 was not so forthcoming, the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) was able in 2022 to host its full complement of events, and even extended the Pepsi/Mike Parris U16 competition.
For these reasons, GBA President Steve Ninvalle has hailed 2022 as Boxing’s ‘bounce back’ year. “2022 has been a very rewarding year for us. Rewarding in the fact that we were able to bounce back after COVID-19. COVID-19 would’ve put us down since 2019, and in 2020 we had no competitions, 2021 either. So, 2022 we would’ve bounced back, and we would’ve been able to hold all three statutory competitions for the year,” Ninvalle reflected.
The GBA President added, “In addition to that, we were able to send our boxers out to several international competitions, and we would’ve had Desmond Amsterdam coming back with 2 bronze medals. He was the first Guyanese boxer to earn financial rewards from fighting overseas. With that, we are looking forward to 2023 with much more enthusiasm.”
For Boxing, 2023 will commence with a few international assignments, in which the Association is eager to have pugilists compete. in addition, Ninvalle is hoping to reinstate a special artillery to the GBA’s coaching staff.
Ninvalle revealed of the GBA’s 2023 plans, “There are a number of international tournaments that our boxers will have to be at, starting at one in Morocco in next month, which is January. We have the Female World Championships, we have the male World Championships, and we expect to have the return of our Cuban Coach, Mr. Francisco Roldan. That, of course, relies on how much resources we have,” he disclosed.
Ninvalle has committed that he and the GBA executives would continually improve the sport of Boxing in Guyana.
“There’s always room for improvement, regardless of whatever you do. Perfection is an illusion that we pursue, it’s not a thing, because there’s never perfection in anything that we do. As an executive, we will keep meeting and we will keep engaging with the other stakeholders, the referees/ judges and the boxers too, in order to make it as airtight as possible,” the GBA President shared.
In other strides made by the GBA this year, just two weeks ago, the GBA became the first Association in the Caribbean to reward amateur boxers monetarily for their exploits in the national championships.