National spots up for grabs at U-16 Boxing Championships

The Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) will commence its rigorous selection process from Sunday with the staging of the monthly U16 Championships at the Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis Gym, Albouystown, as the annual and highly anticipated sixth Caribbean School Boys and Junior Championships, programmed for August 18-20 on local shores, looms.
Based on the results from the aforementioned tournament, boxers will be selected and subsequently encamped two weeks prior to the prestigious regional championship, the only one of its kind in the Caribbean, to commence the preparatory phase.

The competition, which is the brainchild of the incumbent GBA chief, Steve Ninvalle, will be staged at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue. This tournament commenced in 2016, and has featured an expanding list of nations with each edition. At the moment, the 2023 iteration has confirmed the participation of the largest contingent in the event’s burgeoning history, with confirmed representation emanating from the likes of Aruba, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and The Bahamas.
Guyana has emerged as the overall Champion County in each edition.
Similarly, the GBA, in an effort to improve the quality of its training and preparatory apparatus, will conduct a Referees/Judges Training Seminar from August 14th-17th. The yearly forum, which will be administered by Three Star Trainer James Beckles of Trinidad and Tobago, is being staged to sensitise and educate the respective participants on the new rule changes that have been implemented by the world governing body, the International Boxing Association (IBA), to ensure uniformity and clarity.
President Ninvalle has said, “There is no obligation to, or for, success. In basic parlance, what was subsequently reaped is what was initially sowed, and as such, the GBA has again demonstrated its visionary approach and aptitude for success via the implementation of programmes, policies and initiatives that drive this empirical agenda and mandate. Unarguably, the Caribbean School Boys and Junior Championships, which is a unique platform in the region, especially in the English-speaking strata, not only form, but is the backbone of, Guyana’s future in the discipline. It is our most important element in sustaining our dominance at the various levels in the region, and has effectively evolved into the de facto World Championships of the region, something that the Guyanese public and sporting fraternity should be proud of.”
He added, “Development is an arduous and painstaking process. At the GBA, we understand that basic reality, and have conceptualized programmes like our U16 Tournaments and our Caribbean School Boys and Junior Championships to create the foundation and continuity that is required to achieve and realize our developmental objectives. In particular, Caribbean Schools Boys and Junior Championships, despite the unofficial label of a Caribbean World Championship, a title which might eventually become a reality, benefits not only the local populace, but the entire region, and this is evident by its annual expansion in the number of participants and nations.
“Its success is a testament to the hard work of the association, but more importantly, the concerted exertions of our boxers, coaches, and trainers who have utilized and embraced this platform and avenue for their own personal evolution.”