Ramnarine appointed to AIBA women’s commission

RIA RAMNARINE, TT’s first woman world boxing champion, continued to progress in the sport, but outside of the ring, with her appointment to the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) women’s commission being her latest milestone.

The 40-year-old former professional boxer, who was recently elected as public relations officer for the TT Boxing Association (TTBA), was notified of her appointment via a letter from AIBA president Gafur Rahimov on March 22. She is the first woman from TT to be appointed on an AIBA commission.

"I am quite honoured to have been appointed to the women’s commission," said Ramnarine, who stated that her duties were still being clarified. But she is adamant that she will do all to use her position for the benefit of girls and women in the sport, particularly in TT.

"I'm really hoping that my appointment will give the sport the boost that it needs in terms of women's boxing, because we don't have a lot of women boxers. We don't have a lot of women officials. In fact, I know of no women ITOs (international technical officers). So we have a lot of work to do," Ramnarine said.

"Being appointed is an honour and privilege for me. I'm relatively young on the AIBA scale and being new into (the women's commission). I know my background does bring a lot of credibility for them."

As a three-star AIBA coach, Ramnarine was appointed to AIBA’s Mixed Double Boxing Task Force team last June, and was later invited to AIBA’s first two-day Gender Equality Forum, in Sofia, Bulgaria, along with prominent women affiliated with boxing associations globally.

"I look forward to working alongside my fellow commission members, most of whom I met last year at the gender forum. From my experience there, it is evident that we all share the common passion of strengthening, supporting and creating opportunities for women and girls in boxing," she said.

Ramnarine believes her consistent work with the TTBA and AIBA, as well as her pursuit of sporting studies, were among the main reasons for her recognition and appointment by AIBA.

Following her retirement as a professional boxer, Ramnarine participated in sport administration courses offered by the TT Olympic Committee, which led to her achieving two international Olympic Solidarity scholarships.

She then graduated with honours from the International Coaching Enrichment Certification Programme in 2015, and with distinction in the Executive Masters in Sport Organisation Management a year later.

Having struggled from the onset of her career, Ramnarine says she hopes to create opportunities for young women to advance themselves in the physical and administrative side of sports.

"I always say, as a coach and athlete, that everything positive, if it affects at least one individual who goes on to make something good of it, it would have served its purpose. So if at least one other young female follows the example or is encouraged and motivated, then to me, that would be like a big accomplishment."

She sought to put into perspective the benefit of a woman representing this country in such a position.

"I was talking to one of my colleagues at UTT who is from tennis, and we were just talking about the amount of, if you want to say, adversity that we face at times, because you have people who are really passionate about the sport, whichever sport they're in and they feel duty-bound and convicted and everything to get the job done. And a lot of times you meet with walls, and you meet with power-hungry people and people who fail to realise that they need to relinquish power at times for the greater good of the sport.

"So we were talking and I was thinking that a lot of people have gotten disenchanted when they see that they can't or there is little opportunity for them to go forward, other than being an athlete. But if there is one tiny chance that you can make it better for the generation coming up after you, then you have to take it, and that's what I'm hoping to do."

Ramnarine said while there are people in prominent positions whose attitude to power borders on megalomania, there are those who guided her and deserve appreciation for their role in her progression as a boxer, board and administrator.

"While I have been, at times, the victim of men who fail to realise that they need to relinquish power, I must say that I've had a lot of support from Bharat Ramoutar, my former coach and manager. I still train at that gym, Fine Line.

"He's been very supportive over the years and obviously that would have led to where I am now – him, and Mr (Cecil) Forde. Mr Forde has been very supportive. He was instrumental in my nomination."