Amateur boxers did Guyana proud
- Juman-Yassin appeals to government, businesses for support
By Michael DaSilva
Stabroek News
June 25, 2004
"Amateur boxing is on good grounds. We have a lot of boxers who can move ahead." These were the words of Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) President KA Juman-Yassin when he addressed members of the media yesterday.
Speaking at a press conference called to discuss the recently concluded Caribbean Amateur Boxing Champion-ships in Trinidad and Tobago, Juman-Yassin said there are many good boxers, but the government and the business community need to come forward and assist the sport. Guyana tied on 30 points with Trinidad and Tobago to share the overall team championship.
Juman-Yassin said Guyana was represented by a 29-member contingent. Of this number, 23 were boxers, two were referee/judges, three were coaches and the other was the manager Rudolph Torrington. Of the 23 boxers, Earl Sobers fell ill and could not have participated. All the others won medals. The locals won 13 gold, five silver and four bronze medals.
Juman-Yassin said in his opinion the team did exceedingly well, but could have done better.
There were two females: Melissa Daniels, who won a gold and was also voted best female on show, and Alexis Gordon who also won a gold medal.
There were four cadets, including Sobers, and the three that fought all won gold medals.
In the under-20 category, Guyana won five gold medals, one silver and a bronze.
In the novices category, Guyana won a silver medal through Eversley Brown.
There were nine seniors and of the lot, three won gold medals, three got silvers and the other three secured bronze medals.
Jumna-Yassin informed that two senior boxers - Dexter Marques and Mark Fernandes - did not have opponents in their respective weight divisions, but they were given their gold medals. However, he pointed out that no points were awarded for these two gold medals.
The other gold medal in this category was won by Esan Rose.
Juman-Yassin said if points were awarded for Fernandes and Marques' gold medals, Guyana would not have had to share the overall title with the host nation.
However, he said he is heartened at the achievements of the cadets and under-20s. "It justifies the programme that has been implemented by the GABA executives and the coaches. We have a good crop of under-20s and under-16s and it augurs well for the future of amateur boxing.
"We need to give a small stipend to our three coaches and the boxers need tonic and vitamins, so we are calling on government to come forward and support this," Juman-Yassin said.
He said he had written to Director of Sports Neil Kumar on this issue and is awaiting a reply.
Juman-Yassin also complimented Torrington and the three-member coaching staff - Carl Franklyn, Terrence Poole and Seibert Blake. "They, together with the other coaches around Guyana, have done us well."
He said in April of this year, Blake was sent to a coaching course in Ecuador which was conducted by a top-rated Cuban coach, and he was successful and he thanked the Guyana Olympic Association for making it possible for Blake to attend the course.
Juman-Yassin noted that Blake was selected because he is young, he has a lot of young boxers in his gym (Forgotten Youth Foundation) and he is dedicated. "He hung up his boots and gloves and is now giving something back to the sport. I'm sure he'll be a successful coach."
He had a special word of praise for Donald Allison, who also has a lot of young boxers in his gym (Ricola).
Juman-Yassin said the two referee/judges - Romona Agard and Dexter Patterson attended a course in Trinidad that was conducted simultaneously with the championships and they both were successful.
However, because the course was not properly organised, the two did not receive their Continental badges.
But he said that the two have a far way to go. "I was very proud to see them officiating at the championships."
Also present yesterday was team coach Franklyn who said the performance of the fighters made the tour a success.
But he thought that the seniors could have done better. "My objective was to win the overall championships but we fell short," Franklyn said. "We also had at least two poor decisions that went against us. If we had those two in our favour we would have won the overall title."
Franklyn also complained about the distance the boxers had to travel each day for the weigh-in and the distance to the venue.
GABA Secretary Howard Cox said: "We had a young, inexperienced team of fighters and we put them to the test and they passed with flying colours."
Cox like Juman-Yassin made an appeal to the business community for support for the sport, to help the youngsters achieve their true potential.
With regard to the organising of the tournament, Cox said in his opinion the Trinidad association is a bit inexperienced and seemed to be having financial problems just like some other Caribbean associations including Guyana.
Cox said he was disappointed with the standard of refereeing and feels the standard of refereeing and judging in Guyana is far higher.
Juman-Yassin also ex-pressed gratitude and complimented the persons and organisations that made the tour possible: National Sports Commission, Mark DeFreitas and his staff at Universal Airlines, Abdool and Abdool Insurance Company, Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company, Stanley and Colin Ming of Ming's Products and Services, D. C. Cabs, Guyana Defence Force, Holland's Entertainment Productions, Wayne Braithwaite, Vivian Harris, Allison and Allison's sister who resides in Trinidad.
Next year's tournament is scheduled for the Cayman Islands.