IN spite of uncertainties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and major events being either cancelled or postponed across the Caribbean region, the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) has registered to host the next Caribbean Championship.
St Maarten was initially scheduled to host the 2020 games but pulled out because of uncertainty.
The Guyana Chronicle reported that the decision for Guyana to host the championship was finalised at a recent meeting GBA’s president Steve Ninvalle stated.
The country hosted the Championships in 2015 and 2018 copping the titles in those years.
“There is no definite timeframe as yet since there is the overhanging threat of Covid-19; but there may be a likelihood of such a competition being hosted in the first quarter of 2021. Guyana has accepted that offer to host but the timing will depend on how restless Mr Covid-19 is,” Ninvalle told Chronicle Sport.
Ninvalle said, “It’s more of a benefit for us if we stage. All of our boxers get a chance to participate also our officials. We lost the Champion Country Title in 2017 because we were only able to send a team of four boxers to St Lucia. The very next year the crown was back home when we hosted.”
GBA has only held one competition for the year on February 15 and Ninvalle said given the present situation, there would not be any planned for the rest of 2020. “I don’t see any such activity being held for the remainder of the year. We can be consoled by the fact that almost every other country in the region is facing the same issue at the same time.”
Ninvalle, who is also a vice-president of the Americas Boxing Confederation (AMBC) added that he will be advocating for more virtual seminars for the local and regional fraternity the Guyana Chronicle reported.
