Guyana’s boxers secure 2 gold, 2 silver medals in Barbados tourney

Dec 05, 2011 Sports

Guyana’s boxers captured four medals at the Ronald Wilson memorial Boxing Tournament in Barbados over the last weekend.
Following impressive showings in the preliminary action, the Guyanese continued their remarkable run to earn two gold and two silver medals. Two fighters were disqualified shortening their medal tally. Female novice Renitna David was disqualified in her engagement after an infringement on her part but the referee allowed the contest to spiral out of hand according to reports.

GABA President Steve Ninvalle (centre) poses with his fighters and officials following their arrival back home from Barbados yesterday after a successful showing.

Laured Stewart, fighting as a novice, was disqualified by the Bajan officials after they deemed him to have had more than five fights including a bout against one of their top fighter Kobe Breedy, who he had beaten. At that time Stewart was an Under-15, he is now 17 years and still categorized as a novice according to the rules, however, the Bajans felt otherwise despite some of the other participating countries agreeing that the Guyanese could fight as a novice.
The two youngsters were impressive in their earlier bouts winning in commanding fashion.
Despite that minor setback, the Guyanese boys displayed their class led by the impressive Imran ‘Magic’ Khan. Khan turned on a double fisted deluge to stop a St Lucian fighter to claim the bantamweight gold, while Ron Smith, despite allowing himself to fall prey to his Trinidadian opponent’s tactics, bullied his way to the welterweight gold medal in the elite fighters contest.
Richard Williamson had to settle for silver after losing a close contest to Barbadian best fighter Ricardo Blackman. Delon Charles also lost in his final to claim silver against a fighter from the Cayman Islands.
Trainer Terrence Poole was a very happy man as he looked at the performance overall of his charges. He told Kaieteur Sport that credit must be given to Williamson after he lost to Blackman 11-2. He noted that Blackman was a seasoned campaigner and for Williamson to push him to the max tells volumes. Poole also lauded the performance of Charles who in his first overseas action displayed that he is one to watch, pushing his opponent as the bout was scored 9-9, but on a countback system used, he lost out 9-8.
Much praise was given to Khan, who Poole said was his usual self. Khan using his skill and guile out maneuvered and pounded his opponent into submission with punches in bunches to send tongues wagging as to his ability.
The trainer also noted the despite Smith allowing his opponent to pull him into a wrestling match, which is not his usual style, he still had it in him to secure the victory. Poole noted that his fighters can only get better as time elapse and the experience gained would put them in good stead for the upcoming Olympic box off to secure places at the London Games next year.
He was somewhat critical of some of the officiating but was happy with his boxers.
Guyana Amateur Boxing Association President, Steve Ninvalle, expressed pleasure at the boxers’ performance and the medals won. He noted that the exposure would have done volumes for them, lauding the financial support given by former President Bharrat Jagdeo, who gave $2M to cover their expenses.
Ninvalle noted that with financial support his team of fighters can get the much needed exposure and preparation to bring glory to Guyana at the next Olympics. He congratulated them and the management team for their efforts.

3 thoughts on “Guyana’s boxers secure 2 gold, 2 silver medals in Barbados tourney”

godzilla123 December 5, 2011 at 1:21 pm

Congratulations to our boxers who grabbed two gold and two silver in the boxing tournament in Barbados. Well Done !
Arifa225 December 5, 2011 at 1:57 pm

Congrats from your very proud aunt in New Jersey…….i had absolutely no doubt that you would win…………I am very proud of you.
stevinski December 5, 2011 at 6:40 pm

Congratulations to one and all for a job well done; all of us are proud of you.
Hey magic man! Sprinkle some of that magic dust all over guyana boxing!
All the vary best.