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Boxers becoming frustrated in Cuba, plead to be brought home
The four Olympic hopeful boxers in Cuba for a training stint that should have ended several weeks now, but due to the coronavirus lockdown, are
Steve Ninvalle (centre) and the boxers in Cuba. (From left) Colin Lewis, Dennis Thomas, Keevin Allicock and Desmond Amsterdam.
stranded on the island, are pleading with the local authorities to bring them home as frustration set in.
The boxers are led by Team Leader Colin Lewis and include Desmond Amsterdam, Dennis Thomas and Keevin Allicock who were on a three-month training stint which started in early January and were scheduled to return home last month.
President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Steve Ninvalle had written to the Chairman of the Covid19 Task Force, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, asking the body to favourably consider a request to have the fighters returned to Guyana before June 3rd, the probable date for the reopening of Guyana’s borders.
In that letter, Ninvalle explained that the four boxers are now, frustrated, depressed and facing psychological challenges after being stranded in Cuba for close to two months. Ninvalle reasoned that with no definitive date set for their return the situation in Cuba can only take a turn for the worst.
Team Leader in Cuba, Colin Lewis, yesterday contacted Ninvalle and his sentiments were heart rending. In the message he said, “Good morning sir we can’t sleep at this point sir, we all are up and we very, very sad and restless we want to go home sir, the food we eat today come up back for us tonight we send it down back cause is the same thing happen again yesterday sir.”
“Honestly personally we can’t take this no more sir, we have been keeping quiet for too long and it’s not well here sir, we represented Guyana with a good heart and spirit, but its time they need to let us go home sir,” the desperate plea from the young man highlighted.
Kaieteur asked Ninvalle for his thoughts on the issue and a pained GBA boss noted, “It’s painful having to be informed of the deterioration. We would have hoped that by this time we would have received a response from the Task Force, whether it’s no, yes or maybe. There is not a lot more that we can tell our boxers, we have asked them to hold on to be patient, but frustration has clearly stepped into the camp and we can’t say where it will go from here.
I hope that in the very near future we will have a response, which if favourable, will be of a glimmer of hope to these young ambassadors.”
“I can just imagine what is going on and I won’t wish that on anyone. We have carbon copied our letter to the Director of Sport and I will be checking in with him again to find out if there is any movements forward.
It’s painful, it’s very painful to learn of the deterioration,” a clearly disturbed Ninvalle noted.
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