By Kiev Chesney
The Venezuelan Embassy has decided to aid in the development of amateur boxing and has donated a quantity of boxing equipment to the governing body for the sport locally and also to a promising young boxer.
On Thursday, the embassy at one presentation, made two donations of boxing equipment to the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) and Dexter Wray of the Ricola Boxing Gym.
The donation to the promising young boxer Wray came through the initiative of the Benschop Foundation while the Venezuelan Embassy was one of two embassies to respond to a request for assistance from GABA.
According to secretary of GABA, Otis Van Lewis, a request was made to the embassies here for assistance in obtaining boxing equipment for use by boxers attending the Guyana Amateur Boxing Academy located at the National Gymnasium and a positive response was received from the Venezuelan Embassy and the British High Commission. Venezuelan Ambassador, Dario Marandy, and First Secretary in charge of the Commercial Section, Victor Andrade, took time out of their busy schedule to attend the brief presentation ceremony held at the Thomas Street office, and indicated their commitment towards the development of amateur boxing and to persons in need.
“This donation that we are making here today to the local boxing federation is in an effort to support the persons in the sport who may need assistance.
“It is our hope that these items may in some way have an impact on the development of the sport in Guyana at present and towards producing a few world champions in the future,” said Andrade, who functioned as the Ambassador’s interpreter.
Receiving the equipment on behalf of GABA, was national coach Carl Franklin and vice-president of GABA Keith French.
French was so grateful that he even tried to express his gratitude to the Ambassador in the Ambassador’s language. He made a fair go at it but seemed to exhaust his Spanish vocabulary and finally concluded with a hand-shake and the phrase ‘muchas gracias’.
French also encouraged the Ambassador and his staff to have a first hand look at some of the local competitions so that they could monitor the development of the sport.
The equipment donated to GABA included boxing gloves, protective head gear, mouth pieces, training pads, punching bags and boxing shoes.
French mentioned that the equipment would be stored at the Guyana Olympic Association office at Peter Rose and Church Streets and would be loaned or given to gyms which had expressed a need for equipment.
Meanwhile, the Benschop Foundation also secured additional gear for the promising young fighter Wray and the gym at which he trains.
Head of the foundation Mark Benschop said that the initiatives by the foundation were not just to help Wray but to reach out and help more of the promising young athletes whose progress have been hindered by financial constraints.
Benschop thanked the Ambassador and emphasized that it was only through generosity that different organizations could help both the sport and society.
“The equipment that we received included boxing gloves, head gear, bandages and shoes, and all that is not used by Wray will be utilized by the other athletes at the Ricola Boxing Gym.
“This donation from the Venezuelan Embassy will be of great assistance to us and we just hope that other organizations can be inspired by this gesture and follow suit, since helping develop these youths directly, is one of the ways to keep them out of a life of crime and help them to achieve something positive,’ he said.
Wray expressed his gratitude to the Ambassador and even threw a few punches to demonstrate how the various items donated would be used.
