It was fistic fury at the National Gymnasium on Sunday evening, as the Winfield Brathwaite Caribbean Schoolboys/girls and Juniors tournament concluded with Guyana retaining the title once again.
The hosts accumulated 38 points over the three-day competition for first place, while Trinidad and Tobago finished second with 29 points. In third place was St. Lucia, who garnered 13 points.
The final evening of action at the National Gymnasium on Sunday began with Guyana’s Shaquain James winning the Youth 63.5kg bout against Antigua and Barbuda’s Leon Loudat after the Referee stopped the contest in Round 3.
Guyana’s good fortune continued with Kevin Klass defeating St. Lucia’s Nervon Medrick, Kenroy Klass besting Grenada’s Drayson Roberts, and Kenisha Klass overpowering Trinidad and Tobago’s Grace Harry, all by way of a referee stopping the contest.
Guyana’s Chance Niles (blue) defeated Med Charles in an entertaining final bout on Sunday night
Guyana’s Joffes Jackson went all the way against St. Lucia’s Elroy Canchon, and eventually won that Juniors 75kg final on points.
In a disappointing turn in one of the feature matchups of the evening, Guyana’s Tofina Barker fell victim to Trinidad’s Reyan John in the Youth Women 52kg final.
However, Ken Harvey turned things around for the Guyanese camp as the night wound down, pummeling St. Lucia’s Kurt Kirton in 1 minute, 36s seconds into Round One of their Juniors 60kg final bout.
Then, Guyana’s Chance Niles capped off the night’s activities with a win on point over Trinidad’s Med Charles to claim the Juniors 70kg title.
It took Ken Harvey (blue) just one minute and 36 seconds to wrap up his bout
In other results, Suriname’s Tehelya Arabil Nikrui bested Guyana’s Melia Barker in Round 1 to claim the Schoolgirls 44kg final. Another win for Suriname came from Anjali Toolsie in the Youth Women 52kg final, when she defeated Guyana’s Angelina Rogers for gold, while their teammate Hael Main added another victory to Suriname’s artillery with a thumping win against Grenada’s DeAndre Hector, one minute and 56 seconds into Round 1 of their Youth 60kg final bout.
In individual awards, young Ezekiel Bancroft was named the Overall Best Boxer, as well as the best in the schoolboy division, after punching his way to a gold medal; while another Guyanese, Chance Niles, was the best boxer in the Junior division.
Trinidadian Neraj Mahadeosingh, who wrapped up his Youth 57kg gold medal contest against Grenada’s Sam James in just 56 seconds and was named the best boxer in the Youth division while his country woman Reyah John was adjudged the best boxer in the schoolgirl division.
Guyana has now won successive titles in this Caribbean tournament since its inception in 2016.
