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GOA presents GBA with US$15,000 for Boxers and Coach to attend training in Cuba
By Sean Devers
Yesterday at his Carmichael Street Office, Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) President K Juman Yassin handed over a cheque worth US$15,000 to Steve Ninvalle in the presence of GBA’s TD and National Head Coach Terrence Poole and GOA’s VP Dr Karen Pilgrim and it was a timely Christmas gift.
GBA President Steve Ninvalle is presented with the Cheque by GOA’s VP Dr Karen Pilgrim as GOA’s Head K Juman Yassin and GBA’s TD Terrence Poole share the moment.
The Cheque is to assist in facilitating a three-month training camp in Cuba for Guyana’s four Olympic Boxing hopefuls; Kevin Allicock, Desmond Amsterdam, Dennis Thomas and Colin Lewis, who are scheduled to depart Guyana on December 29, 2019.
Ninvalle thanked the GOA for their contribution which he said will assist the pugilists as they attempt to qualify for next year’s Olympic qualifiers from March 26 to April 3 in Argentina.
The 2020 Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan from July 24 to August 9.
Ninvalle informed that the GOA’s contribution was the biggest the GBA has ever had and informed the entire cost to send the team to Cuba is US$31,000.
“We thank Mr K Juman Yassin and the GOA, who was the first to pledge their support, for their contribution. We also thank the Government for their $2.5 Million of which have already gotten $1Million with the other $1.5 to be given early next month,” Ninvalle informed.
The GBA boss, who was elected in March this year as Vice President of the American Boxing Confederation (AMBC) at a Congress held in Panama, disclosed that Coach Sebert Blake and GCA’s Technical Director Coach Terrence Poole MS should accompany the boxers to Cuba, while Cuban Coach Francisco Roldan, who worked with Allicock in Cuba during his preparations for the Pan Am Games in Peru, will join the pair of Guyanese Coaches.
“With the GOA and NSC contributions and what we (GBA) will put, we have enough to send the Boxers and Coaches. We have given them the tools it’s up to them to make use of the training which should help them in the qualifiers.”
Poole thanked the GOA for their continued support of Boxing and said this timely gesture will see the boxers having adequate preparation ahead of the Qualifiers in March.
Vice-President of the GOA Dr Karen Pilgrim, said, the GOA was happy to supports sports especially boxing.
“The first Games I attended I saw the boxers doing really well and I love Boxing. Boxing could give Guyana another Medal in Japan,” Dr Pilgrim added.
GOA’s President Yassin, a former President of Guyana Boxing Board of Control, related that about the middle of this year he met with Ninvalle and spoke about the Olympic qualifiers.
“Training in Cuba will expose our Boxers to a wide range and variety of sparring partners and medical and other facilities that we don’t have here,” the long-serving GOA head said.
Yassin thanked Christopher Jones and the NSC for stepping in with financial support and stressed that the combination of the Government, GOA, Business entities funding is needed for sports to grow in Guyana.
“I think it’s very important for our Coaches to go to Cuba and experience what they do there and bring that experience back to the benefit of the local Coaches and boxers.
I know that the boxers will have to make that sacrifice of missing Old Year’s Night with their families but if you want to be successful, sacrifices have to be made,” Yassin added.
“I hope that Coach Blake is given the three-month time-off from GPL where he works to conduct National Duty,” Yassin concluded.
In 1996 when John Douglas competed in the men’s light heavyweight event in the Summer Olympics, it was the last time a Guyanese Boxer Qualified for the Olympics, while Guyana’s Mike Parris, who won a Bronze Medal in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, remains the only Boxer from the English Speaking Caribbean to win an Olympic Medal.
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