President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), Steve Ninvalle says the three-member team set to compete at the inaugural Junior Pan American Games was one of the better prepared teams adding that he was looking forward to creditable performances.
The boxing team, which comprises Travis Inverary, Alesha Jackman and Patrick Harvey along with AIBA Three-Star Coach, Terrence Poole, departed Tuesday for the Games which gets underway today in Cali, Colombia.
Ninvalle, who is also the Director of Sport, told the media virtually that this is “one of our best prepared teams and we have provided them with the necessary tools and it’s just now for them to go and execute.”
In a first, the trio was afforded the services of a personal trainer, a psychologist, a nutritionist and a physiotherapist.
The GBA head added “Of course, this will allow us to gauge where we are with our nursery, because they are part of our nursery. We will be putting a lot more focus (on the nursery) when the veil of COVID is pulled away.”
Ninvalle added: “I expect Ms. Alesha Jackman to do well. I expect Patrick Harvey and Travis Inverary also to do well, but we’re more leaning towards Ms. Jackman.”
Jackman and Inverary will compete in the 69kg class while Harvey will do combat in the 63kg division. Boxing action gets underway tomorrow at the Luis Ignacio Alvarez Coliseum.
Ninvalle lauded the efforts of President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), K Juman-Yassin for “going beyond the call of duty” and Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier Godfrey Bess, for affording the boxers the use of the Guyana Defence Force’s gym during their training camp.
“All hands were on deck in the preparation of these young athletes and we expect them to do Guyana proud,” Ninvalle concluded.
The first Junior Pan Am Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes aged 17 to 22 in the Americas where 315 events in 28 sports are scheduled to be contested. Guyana will be represented in seven disciplines during the event which concludes on December 5.
Team Guyana to Junior Pan Am Games 2021
Badminton: Narayan Ramdhani, Priyanna Ramdhani, Akili Haynes, Tyrese Jeffrey
Boxing: Terrence Poole, Alesha Jackman, Patrick Harvey, Travis Inverary
Squash: Garfield Wiltshire, Shomari Wiltshire, Samuel Ince-Carvalhal, Michael Alphonso
Table Tennis: Idi Lewis, Miguel Wong, Jonathan Van Lange
Weightlifting: Sean Cozier, Esther Nurse
Athletics: Johnny Gravesande, Revon Williams, Noelex Holder, Keliza Smith, Chantoba Bright, Kenisha Phillips
Swimming: Paul Mahaica Sr., Paul Mahaica Jr., Patrice Mahaica, Leon Seaton, Aleka Persaud
