Unified associations plugged -as boxing team in limbo

Apr 01, 2019 News, Sports

Keevin Allicock lands a crunching left to face of T&T’s Anthony Joseph. (File photo)

As Guyana’s boxing team’s participation at the Pan Am Qualifiers in Nicaragua remain uncertain President of the Guyana Boxing Association, Steve Ninvalle, is calling for the formation of united associations of Guyana in the absence of a sports policy.
The Guyana team is scheduled to depart this evening for Nicaragua but up to yesterday remained without sufficient funds to support the trip. An emotional Ninvalle claimed that the issues faced by boxing are not unique to the GBA.
“We have the same problems, we face them year in and year out and it has been proven that individually we were unable to create an atmosphere that favours us. It is my belief that with a collective voice the situation will improve,” Ninvalle said.
Ninvalle, who was recently elected Vice President of the 43-nation Americas Boxing Confederation (AMBC), informed that he has already discussed the idea with five other associations’ presidents who all applauded and embraced the idea of the formation.
“This was free and frank discussions about what is given to us, when it is given and by whom. None of the five are happy with the status quo and are of the view that individually the associations are being taken lightly. The bottom line is that evidently the individual sport discipline suffers.”
“In 2016 I was forced to walk 100 miles from Corentyne to Georgetown to raise funds for team Guyana to get to participate in the Caribbean Championship. Fast forward to 2019 and we find an exact scenario. Basketball had a similar situation as did Rugby. If you do things the same way all the time but expect a different result each time then we all know what that definition is,” the AMBC VP noted.
According to Ninvalle a meeting of the “concerned presidents” will be held within a week’s time. Meanwhile, the GBA boss said that he hopes that a last minute intervention would pull his team through.
“Our team has been training for the last six weeks under a Cuban coach and is just out of a two-week encampment. To disappoint those young boxers now would be tantamount to an injustice,” he concluded.

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