TT’s Olympic boxing prospects raring to go

AFTER over three months of restricted indoor training due to the global pandemic, nine of TT’s potential Olympic qualifying boxers resume their full training regime in August.

Olympic coach Reynold Cox is eager to proceed with preparations ahead of the rescheduled 2021 Summer Games. The next four weeks will be used to amplify each boxer’s strength and conditioning as they gear up for a long-awaited return to training.

The national squad plans to utilise the coming months to fine-tune their skills ahead of the Caribbean Boxing Championships in December. This tourney will be used as a gauge heading into the two Olympic qualifier events, both of which have been tentatively set for early 2021.

Originally, the first qualifier was scheduled to punch off in Argentina from March 26 to April 3. But due to the spread of coronavirus, this, among several other Tokyo qualifiers, was unavoidably postponed.

“We’ve already restarted some limited training which will run throughout July. There won’t be much in-gym sessions but the athletes would be doing a lot of physical exercises. August will see the resumption of full training in preparation for the Olympic qualifiers.

“Firstly, we want to defend our Caribbean titles in December, as this is our major focus. We then shift our attention to the Olympic qualifiers. Most of our Olympic team would be in preparation including the Commonwealth team for next year’s Youth Games in TT,” said Cox on Wednesday.

TT’s Olympic hopefuls are Nigel Paul (91+kg), Cam Awesome (91kg US-based), Andrew Fermin (81kg), Aaron Prince (75kg), Tyrone Thomas (69kg), Michael Alexander (64kg), Anthony Joseph (56kg), Tianna Guy (56kg) and Jewel Lambert (48kg US-based).

Foreign-based representatives Awesome and Lambert will not be able to resume face-to-face training with Cox unless the border restrictions are lifted. Both athletes are raring to go but must, for now, continue their regime alongside individual trainers in the US.

Cox remains in close contact with each of the pair’s respective coaches to ensure the drills and sessions are being completed and managed efficiently.

“We have to wait for the borders to reopen for ‘Cam’ and Jewel to return to TT to rejoin the camp. Other than that, I’ll continue to liaise with their coaches to make sure the work is being done.

“The postponement of the Olympics has given us enough time to catch up with our preparation.

I am more concerned about the time ahead than the time passed. The boxers remain grounded in TT, at least until the end of the year when and if the pandemic slows,” he added.

Although affected by the covid19 downtime, Cox was still pleased to have a joint training camp with Cuban boxers and a regional competition (Spanish Invasion) before the pandemic struck. According to him, the team entered March 2020 ready for the then Olympic qualifiers, but was forced to wind down preparations due to the novel virus.

Cox remains hopeful such developmental camps and competitions would fall in favour of the TT contingent come 2021.

“We had to stop our training as we entered the covid19 period in March.

It may have brought a little stumbling block for us. But if we can have another camp or bring in more boxers next year, that would serve as a good platform for us to see where we’re at and how we’ve been progressing,” he concluded.