Director of the GBA, Terrence Poole, Director of Sport, Neil Kumar and president of
GBA, Steve Ninvalle, at Wednesday’s official opening of the five-day referee/judges
seminar (Photo: Rajiv Bisnauth)
Experienced International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and now AIBA accredited referee/judge, Trinidad’s James Beckles, on Wednesday commenced a five-day referees/judges seminar for local boxing officials at the Guyana Olympic Association headquarters on High Street, Georgetown.
The seminar, which has been made possible by the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) with the support from Director of Sport, Neil Kumar, will conclude on Sunday with a closing ceremony at Olympic House.
Kumar, in declaring the seminar open, said the initiative by the GBA is of utmost importance to the development of the sport in Guyana.
“I want to congratulate GBA for organising this course because I think boxing is one of the better sport disciplines both at the amateur and professional levels,” Kumar said.
He urged the participants to make full use of the seminar in order to become better referees and judges.
Speaking also at the opening ceremony, president of GBA, Steve Ninvalle, informed that the seminar is geared towards improving the standard of refereeing and judging locally, and also to bring those officials up to speed with several changes made to the rules of the sport internationally.
Ninvalle said that Beckles has been of immense assistance to the development of local officials and his input is always welcome. He said that on his previous visit, Beckles had imparted valuable knowledge towards the improvement of local officials, adding that this seminar will be no different.
“I would like to urge you the participants to take in all the information Mr. Beckles has to offer, it can only result in us becoming better referees/judges and in Guyana doing better at amateur boxing throughout the international arena,” the GBA president said.
Beckles will deal extensively with the computerised scoring process in an effort to acquaint his local counterparts on the intricacies of that aspect of their job.
This is Beckles’ third visit to Guyana on a similar expedition, but this time he will be tasked with the role of briefing local officials of the changes in the sport following the decision of AIBA officials that boxers could retain their Olympics eligibility despite boxing professionally.
Technical Director of the GBA, Terrence Poole, said the first three days of the seminar will be held at the Olympic House, while the final two days will be held at the Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis gym with the practical sessions.
