HEAD Coach Carl Hild is flanked by boxers Jalen Young and Jaiden Young.
By BRENT STUBBS
Senior sports reporter
The Bahamas Boxing Federation, in its bid to expose the next generation of amateur boxers to international competition, will take a team of four to the High School/Junior Championships in George Town, Guyana.
The team, led by the president of the federation, Vincent Strachan, will leave on Wednesday for the competition which will last until August 29.
However, Strachan said they are still appealing to the public for their financial support to ensure every member of the team can travel.
Carl Hild, the country’s most experienced amateur boxer coming off a disappointing first-round TKO at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, will make his debut as the team’s head coach. He will be assisted by Vincent Deleveaux from Inagua.
Selected to represent the country are Keano Cox, a 17-year-old from Inagua, fighting in the 132-pound division; Andrew Curtis, a 15-year-old from New Providence at 119-lbs; brothers Jaiden Young, a 17-year-old at 141-lbs and 15-year-old Jailen Young at 125lbs, both out of Tampa, Florida, along with Elijah Smith, a 17-year-old from Grand Bahamian in the 217-lbs Division.
The event was postponed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Strachan said the federation is still appealing for financial assistance to cover the cost for the team due to their long and overnight layovers in Trinidad, among other related factors. with team travel.
“We are only waiting for financial assistance from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to help us,” said Strachan.
“The initial situation we faced is that one of the boxers did not have a visa.
“The team won’t be able to come back through Miami, so it’s easier to come back through Cuba,” Strachan said.
“Three members of the team, brothers Jaiden and Jailen and Carl Hild, will return to Miami.”
Strachan said he is confident the team will do very well. “The only team I think we will have problems with is the host country, Guyana,” he said. “They have been training and competing at home with boxing matches every two weeks. That’s what we didn’t have.
“But we are going there with confidence and I believe we will do very well. We have very high hopes for the two boxers in Tampa, because although they are very young, they are elite boxers, so we look forward to their transition to the senior team, at least one of them next year. We are excited about the prospect of what is to come.”
Shortly after this event, Strachan said the federation has three more events to send teams to compete in. He noted that if they can secure the funds for the teams to travel, it would bode well for the future development of the teams.
“Our senior boxers who competed in the Commonwealth Games, Carl Hild and Rashield Williams, hadn’t competed for about 10 months and that really paid off,” he said.
“So if you don’t compete, it’s going to be a struggle against teams that compete regularly.”
After a two-year hiatus to get a youth team to compete, Strachan said this will be a good indication of where the program is and what they need to do to improve the boxers’ performance as they look ahead to the future.
While the team is scheduled to leave at 7am on Wednesday on Bahamasair and make a stopover in Trinidad before heading to Guyana, Strachan said they will return with a stopover in Trinidad & Tobago.
The team will split with those going to Miami and the rest will go through Cuba before returning home.
