Yassin says gov’t not GABA should resuscitate amateur boxing in Essequibo
By Michael DaSilva
Stabroek News
January 3, 2003
Guyana Amateur Boxing Association’s (GABA) president Juman Yassin says his association would be happy to get involved in the resuscitation of amateur boxing in Essequibo but he feels it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Sports.
In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport last month, Yassin, who also heads the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) said he would be happy to get involved in resuscitating boxing in the Cinderella County, but said...”This should be the work of the Ministry of Sports and the government, they should be doing these things, the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association is the umbrella body of boxing clubs in Guyana.”
“This should be a joint venture of the Ministry of Sports, Government and GABA for the development of boxing, but I have not seen anything constructive being done to promote boxing by the Ministry. No coaches have been appointed, no gyms have been adopted and that type of thing. They need to do something.”
Asked about resuscitating boxing at the New Opportunity Corps, Yassin said if they (NOC administrators) are serious about boxing, he would send a coach there at least once a month for a few days.
“You need a full time coach up there and this is where the government comes in. They have the funds, they have the resources,”
Yassin stated, adding “all the political problems Guyana has faced for the past four years has drained the resources from the private sector and I wish to say that with all the problems the government has, I understand. In trying to allocate resources to sports, they may wish to do so, but then something happens and the money is diverted, but like I said the other day, I would wish to see the Ministry of Sports’ sports policy, so that there could be discussion on it, and so we would know basically what they are trying to achieve. As it is, we don’t know their objective, so I don’t know if they have failed or not.”
Yassin also has plans for amateur boxing in Linden.
“A coach will be visiting Linden at least three times a month and I am looking at the possibility of sending up the national team to Linden from time to time. This could assist in improving the standard of boxing in Linden,” Yassin said.
According to Yassin, a national squad is currently training for the Caribbean and Pan American championships. Yassin said he plans on having the squad encamped out of Georgetown but the association would have to look at the mechanics to see where they could be encamped.
