6th AIBA Women’s World C/ships set for Sept 10-18

Aug 19, 2010 Sports

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Confident Guyanese pair leaves tomorrow for Barbados

By Sean Devers

The World Amateur Boxing Championships is the highest competition for Amateur Boxers organised by the world’s governing body, the Association International de Boxe Amateur (AIBA) and this year a record 75 countries and 306 boxers have registered for Championships, set for Barbados, from September 10-18.
Although the inaugural tournament was held in Havana, Cuba in 1974 it was not until 2001 that the first Women’s Championships was held in Scranton, United States. The last Women’s competition was held in China two years ago.
This year, the 6th AIBA Women’s World C/ships will attract 40 women boxers thanks to AIBA’s “Road to Barbados” training camp, which pays the travel, accommodation and training costs for boxers from underprivileged countries and developing boxing nations to take part in the tournament and benefit from two weeks training by world-class coaches prior to the start of the tournament.
Guyana will be represented at this prestigious competition by the 18-year-old pair of light flyweight Ansilla Norville and Bantam weight Vanessa Robinson and the confident pair of teenagers along with 56-year-old Coach Shem Cuffy are scheduled to depart for Barbados tomorrow.
President of the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) Steve Ninvalle yesterday told Kaieteur Sport that this was a historic occasion for Guyana who will participate in the female category for the first time.
“This is a great opportunity for the girls and with AIBA funding the trip for the training camp which will be conducted during the first 2 weeks of their trip they should give a good account of themselves in the competition,” Ninvalle, also Guyana’s Parliamentary Secretary in the Sports Ministry, informed.
One of Guyana’s leading Boxing journalists before he got into politics, Ninvalle said that the last time Guyana attended something like this was when Clifton Moore and Clyde Atwell went to Italy.  “Most of the attention is usually on the males but when we were informed about this programme by AIBA, we wanted to focus on the females and were very glad for this opportunity to develop our female fighters,” Ninvalle added.
The GABA Head said that while he would like to see more females take up the sport of Boxing in Guyana he stressed that there are several talented young female boxers and his Association will be working feverishly to tap into that young talent, especially in the outlying areas.
Robinson, who is from Port Kaituma and was watched by her mother at her final trainings session at the Forgotten Youth Foundation gym in Albouystown yesterday, is one of those talented girls and said she has been actively involved in the sport for just over two years, adding that she was looking forward to learning a lot for the 2-week training course in Barbados.
Norville, who hails from Albouystown, was also confident that she would benefit from the Barbados trip as she spoke with Kaieteur Sport after a sparring session and some punching on the Heavy bag.
Coach Cuffy explained that the girls have been working hard and expressed satisfaction with preparations. “The girls have had help from the other coaches and have shown the willingness to work which is always important if you want success. This is boxing and I think we have a good chance as anyone and this (participation) should inspire other young girls to want to get involved in the sport,” Cuffy said.
He said the GABA and the Sports Ministry played a big role in getting the girls ready and feels that the 2-week training course just before the 2-weeks of competition in the ring should ensure that the girls are also mentally ready when the Championships start.
Meanwhile, Ninvalle informed that the three-man Guyana Boxing team to the commonwealth Games in India later this year has been selected.
CAC Bronze Medalist Dexter Jordon, Junior Commonwealth Silver Medalist Clevon Rock and Devon Boatswain are the fighters that will travel to India while Terrence Poole is the Coach and Ninvalle the Manager.
The GABA President also disclosed that GABA’s Disciplinary Committee met and has handed out a four-month suspension on Policeman Ray Sandiford following his CAC representation for indiscipline during the trip.

Guyana did well at 2010 Goodwill Swimming C/ships – Manager La Rose

Noelle Smith is first Guyanese to win age group outright

By Franklin Wilson

While the 21-member Guyanese contingent placed fourth overall at the just concluded 16th Goodwill Swim Meet held in Paramaribo, Suriname, August 13-15, Team Manager Jean La Rose is of the view that the young Guyanese did themselves and country proud.
Apart from the overall total of 12 medals (2 gold; 4 silver; 6 bronze), Noelle Smith competing in the 15-17 category became the first Guyanese to ever win an age group outright, bettering the achievement of Henk Lowe who shared with a Surinamese swimmer in 2005.
Like many of their fellow athletes, the Guyanese swimmers achieved glory even though they were at a great disadvantage with regard to the availability of pool time here as opposed to unlimited time for their Regional counterparts.
Many of the athletes achieved Personal Best (PB) times and a number of National Records were set in the process; this would have to be ratified (confirmed) by the relevant committee of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA).
La Rose reported that as was the case in the past, the toughest competition came from host country Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago who placed first and second overall respectively. Both Suriname and T&T had their full complement of 40 swimmers while Barbados who placed third, had a 35-member strong contingent.
Guyana, La Rose informed, saw improvement in 63 events where swimmers reduced their times in some cases by substantial margins.
“For example, Hannibal Gaskin reduced his times in seven events, Onika George and Jaime Jabar in five events each while others did so in three and four events. Some National records were also set in the process and these include Accalia Khan in the 100m free, Britany van Lange in the 100m free, Soroya Simmons in the 50m and 100m back, Noelle Smith in the 50m and 100m breast; 100m back and 200m individual medley along with Ronaldo Rodrigues in the 50m breast.”
La Rose extended profound gratitude to the management team and parents who supported their children’s travel to Suriname. The many corporate entities who also contributed to the trip and the success of the team were complimented.
“We would like to thank everyone for their support and I would like to let you know that the swimmers are all looking forward to the
next meet that will be held in the Twin Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago next August.” Team Coach Shyka Gonsalves also expressed great delight at the performances of her charges noting that she was very proud of them given the level of training that they are afforded as opposed to their competitors.
“I believe that their performances were just fantastic and I could not ask for anything more as head coach.”
Gonsalves said she was confident that with more pool time for training available, Guyana will match and surpass the performances of current powerhouses T&T and Suriname. She is optimistic that with the completion of the new 50m Pool and more time being made available, top flight performances will be achieved.
“There is no doubt that we have lots of talent but our athletes need the necessary infrastructure to develop and become top class. We also need to improve our land activity and a fully equipped gym is needed also.”
It was also reported that the female swimmers for the first time won more medals than their male counterparts, a total of 7 individual medals (2 gold; 2 silver; 3 bronze), the boys won 5 medals (2 silver; 3 bronze) 3 of which were relay medals.
Making their debuts at this level were Tiffany De Moura (girls 11-12), Hannibal Gaskin (boys 11-12), Omar Adams (Boys 11-12), Omari Dunn (boys 11-12) and Kevon De Moura (boys 15-17).
Ronaldo Rodrigues competing in the boy’s 13-14 category placed 4th overall while van Lange placed 3rd overall in her division.
The medal winners for Guyana is as follows:
Name                                    Event        Medal        Time
Britany van Lange  (girls 13-14)                200m free    gold         2:20.74
100m free    gold         1:03.21
Noelle Smith (girls 15-17)        50m breast    silver        39.06
200m IM    silver        2:45.80
100m breast    bronze        1:25.71
200m free    bronze        2:26.15
Athena Gaskin (girls 13-14)        200m free    bronze        2:22.29
Ronaldo Rodrigues (boys 13-14)    50m breast    silver        33.11
Jaime Jabar (boys 15-17)        100m breast    bronze        1:14.75
Boys (15-17) Relay             200 free                             bronze        1:48.50
Boys (15-17) Medley Relay         400m         silver         4:47.85
Boys (15-17) Relay            400m free    bronze        4:09.82
National Records
Subject to ratification the following swimmers set new records; Accalia Khan (girls 9-10) 100m free, van Lange (100m free), Soroya Simmons (girls 13-14) 100m back & 50m back, Noelle Smith (50m breast; 100m back; 200m IM & 100m breast), Ronaldo Rodrigues (50m breast).

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