Well-travelled AIBA’ Three-star and Olympic referee, James Beckles is of the opinion that once the Caribbean Schoolboys and Juniors Tournament is well marketed and developed, it has the potential to be part of Guyana’s Sports Tourism industry.
The Trinidadian made the above comments yesterday at Olympic House shortly after his opening remarks of a three-day seminar ahead of the three-day tournament which starts tomorrow.
Said Beckles “There are few schoolboy tournaments around the world so once people know that there is a school boy tournament here, this can be an internationally marketed event in the next couple of years. Beckles added “I told Mr. Ninvalle that he has a prize here and with proper marketing and development this can expand not just for the Caribbean but this can become an international event which can provide a Sports Tourism avenue for Guyana.”
The Trinidadian noted that Sports Tourism is an industry that Guyana needs to tap into since it can generate funds for the development of the sport and the country.
“Sports Tourism is something we need. You have referees from as far as the US and Cayman Islands coming for this tournament so you can see this is a good start and I think that it augurs well certainly for Guyana.” He continued “I know the resources may be limited and so on but if it builds up to that point then things like hotel spaces and other things put in place then you have a big tournament maybe 300-400 boxers coming from around the world. I know Mr. Ninvalle is starting small to see how it develops but once you start inviting the world and so on, then it will be a big tournament and will need resources to suit that.”
The Trinidadian then touched on the main purpose for his visit to the 592.
“I am here to give a seminar to the referees and judges who will be officiating at the tournament, so I am here early to try and bring them up to date with some of the new rules which came out in December and January.”
Beckles mentioned that some AIBA rules have changed since the calendar flipped to 2017.
“Quite a few but I will just mention a couple like cuts, stoppages, low blow and a couple others that I will be bringing them up to speed on. Simple but procedural work which will be done practically but as you saw just now this is the theoretical part of it and we need to go through and clear up some misconceptions but we will sort them out before the tournament.”
Meanwhile, up from three last year, the sum of six territories have confirmed their participation for this year’s Caribbean School Boys and Juniors Tournament set for the National Gymnasium.
Participants are confirmed from Trinidad, Barbados, St Lucia, Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname. Bell time is 19:00hrs nightly.
