Trinidad and Tobago manager proud of Junior Boxing Champs medal haul

Trinidad and Tobago earned four silver and one bronze medal at the Caribbean Schoolboys/girls and Juniors Boxing Championship which recently concluded in Guyana.

At the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall in Georgetown, five of TT’s six-member contingent finished among the medals.

In the lightweight (57-60kg) division, Prince Charles boxed to silver against Guyana’s Joshua Thambaran.

Chris Persad had a similar result in the men’s light welterweight (60-63kg) against another Guyanese opponent, Sean Graham.

TT’s Paul Newallo also battled to silver medal position against Garuel Hyman in the welterweight (63-66kg) category and countryman Joshua Lewis placed second in the light heavy (75-80kg) against Keyberl Similien of St Lucia.

Neraj Mahadeosingh, competing in the featherweight (54-57kg), held on to bronze against Bahamas’ Jaylen Young.

TT’s lone female participant, Shania Nunez, fought in an exhibition bout. Team manager Vicky Boodram said she showed good form.

The team was coached by Alric Johnson and Jason Aqui.

On their debut international performance, Boodram said it was a tough but successful outing.

“Based on the impact of the stringent restrictions imposed due the covid19 pandemic, our athletes suffered tremendously. Every single athlete on this team had zero boxing competition experience.

“Knowing this, coaches throughout the TT Boxing Association worked together with the national coaches to prepare the athletes.

“The boxers underwent ten weeks of intense training. Despite having no boxing board in place to hold competitions, sparring sessions were conducted weekly to provide the athletes with the much-needed ring experience.

“This proved successful based on the results. The athletes showed that they were physically, technically, tactically and mentally prepared for the competition.”