Surinamese boxers touch down for today’s GBA Developmental Championship

The Surinamese six-member fight roster arrived on local shores yesterday to participate in the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Developmental Championship, which is slated to commence this evening at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue.
The team that arrived overland comprises two amateur fighters and four elite-level combatants. They are: Donn Sadhoe (lightweight), Valentino Artist (bantamweight), Tony Lin (welterweight), Richard Everd (heavyweight), Domelzo Schet (middleweight), and Leandro Dongo (super heavyweight).
The aforesaid cadre is expected to face a sizable challenge in the form of representatives from notable gyms such as the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force, the Forgotten Youth Foundation, Pace and Power, and Rose Hall Town Jammers.
Among the other categories that will be contested during the tournament are: schoolboys, juniors, youths, and women. The programme is supervised by GBA Technical Director Terrence Poole.

Five of six Surinamese pugilists who will partake in the GBA Developmental Championship pose for the camera following their arrival

Meanwhile, GBA President Steve Ninvalle said, “The arrival of the Surinamese delegation underscores the importance and significance that this novel initiative has garnered. The programme, which was born as an attempt to fill an established competitive void, has developed into a mutually beneficial platform, and that is evident by the participation of our Dutch-speaking neighbours.
According to Ninvalle, “Guyana has dominated the English-speaking Caribbean in this discipline, a fact that is not lost on other nations that have opted in the recent past to utilise our shores as a home base for their training cycle and regimen. This initiative, though infant in its application, adds to that regional awareness and structure that will be beneficial to all sundry and gives further credence to the development that has enveloped and transpired in amateur boxing, which has now undertaken an international persuasion.”
He further said, “The arrival of foreign talents on local soil is always a blessing, as it provides international competition for our emerging fighters. No longer is local boxing devoid of international competition. What the professional realm has struggled to achieve on a consistent basis, the amateur arm of boxing has filled the void with aplomb.”
The competition concludes tomorrow at the same venue.