Wednesday July 11, 2012
Kaieteur News
Page 29
25th Edition Friday Night Fights Bradford urges GFF to widen their lenses when selecting national teams Clive Atwell goes after Revlon Lake in toughest bout of his career
By Rawle Welch Chairman of Region 7 Gordon Bradford, speaking with this newspaper shortly after the conclusion of the regional final between Waramadong and Santa Rosa in this year’s Digicel Nationwide Schools Football Competition, called on the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) to widen their lenses when selecting players for the national team. Bradford, who was invited to witness the game during one of his community outreaches, said he was extremely impressed by the talent on display during the game and urged the GFF to not only contain their focus on players from the coastland, but also in the hinterland where an abundant of talent reside, especially within the Amerindian communities. “We have a lot of players who to my mind are just as good or even better than some of those t h a t I ’ v e s e e n selected to the national squad and I’m making an appeal to the local administrators of the sport to send scouts into some of these areas where they can spot some of the rich talent that reside there,” Bradford stated.
Gordon Bradford Giving Region 7 as an example, Bradford spoke of the passion for the sport among the communities where players start honing their skills from an early age under supervised leadership, while the advantage of playing consistently helps to their abilities and also increases their intelligence of the game. He opined that until what he has suggested in done, then Guyanese will never feel satisfied with the composition of the national team since it lacks representation from a wider cross section of the country.
Bradford also spoke of the support the sport receives within the various communities which again according to him is enormous. Residents come from remote villages travelling sometimes for as much as 2-3 hours on water in makeshift boats just to have the opportunity to support their teams. Many players according to him go across the border and play at a high level, but always return to represent their communities, especially during their Inter-District Tournament which is run in August. According to Bradford it would be a good thing for the GFF Acting President Franklin Wilson to visit the area during its staging to get a firsthand look at the talent that abound in the hinterland regions. He said he would be issuing an invitation for Wilson to attend the event. Meanwhile, Bradford took the time to thank Digicel for proving the opportunity to the players to exhibit their talent and pleaded with the Company to contemplate bringing a semi-final or final to the community.
Quarter-final action heats up today at four venues
At the Carifesta Sports Complex ground, Georgetown champions Lodge Secondary School would be brimming with confidence following their authoritative 5-1 humiliating win over New Campbellville Secondary will go up against the champions of Region 9, St. Ignatius Secondary School. While the Georgetown champions can look to their inspirational skipper Keith Fletcher who will receive support from Kareem Johnson, Jarrel Thom, Jamal Gibbs, Travis Lyken and their diminutive custodian in Jamal Daly to see them through to the semifinals, St. Ignatius will be relying heavily on Frankie Parks and Mark Joseph to create the upset their coach Terrence Parks is looking for. At the Wisburg ground in Linden, defending
champions of Region 10and last y e a r ’s tournament runners-up Wi s m a r / C h r i s t i a n b u r g S e c o n d a r y, w i l l m a t c h strides with the lesser known Charity Secondary School, with Mario Batson, Nigel Caesar, Marmalique Davidson, Travin Dryden and Daniel English leading the home team’s charge. Not much is known about their opponents, but the fact that they made it this far in the tournament speaks volumes for them and if Wi s m a r / C h r i s t i a n b u r g decides to sit back on their laurels as they did in the first half of their last encounter against Paramakatoi Secondary, then an upset can occur this afternoon. In the Ancient County of Berbice, Tutorial Academy, who are the regional champions of Region 6, will go up against Waramadong
Secondary who will be representing Region 7 with pride and looking to Mc Curd Kramer, Cirilo George and Myles Albert to lead their challenge in today’s encounter. The final quarterfinal action for today, pits Leonora Secondary School who were crowned champions of Region 3, taking on Bygeval Secondary School at the Beterverwagting Community Centre ground, with Andrew Fowler, Kevin Dorway and Aubrey Greene leading the charge for the former against the wiles of Johnson Jack, Kelvin James and Samuel Charles, who will take up the mantle for the latter team. Action in all four matches kicks off at 1530hrs and with a place in Friday’s semifinals being up for grabs along with one year bragging rights and $500,000 for a project of the winning school’s choice, today’s encounter can be mouth watering, if all the principles showcase the talent that brought them thus far in the tournament
Trainer Orland Rogers (standing) and the Berbice boxers appearing on the July card.
Clive Atwell, on a high following his devastating second round knockout over Rudolph Fraser in the 24th edition of the Friday Night Fights last month, will be out to sustain the tempo when he squares off with Barbadian based Guyanese, Revlon Lake when the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) presents the 25th edition of that programme at the Cliff Anderson sports Hall (CASH) July 27 next. On a card with heavy emphasis on young talent, Berbician, Richard William son and Dilan Allicock will make their professional debut in a 4 rounds bantamweight encounter, while another debutant, Kishan Simon of the Pocket Rocket Boxing Gym (PRBG) will square off
with Patrick Boston in a 4 rounds catchweight affair. Gladwin Dorway commenced his professional career with a 2nd round knockout victory over David Thomas and will look to improve his standing in a 4 rounds jnr/welterweight contest against Anson Green. The bout becomes more interesting when it is noted that Green had s u r r endered an earlier decision to Thomas and is on the redemption trail. The fighters convened at the Avenue of the Republic offices of Abdool and Abdools Insurance brokers yesterday afternoon and inked their signatures on their respective contracts. Lake is still to arrive from his Barbados base but we
were assured that he will arrive in Guyana soon. Meanwhile, the other pugilists opened camp at their respective gyms countrywide and have assured that they will whip themselves into decent shape for their battles. The ProAm affair is a Guyana Boxing Board of Control initiative in collaboration with the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA), the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and the National Communication Network. Initially the fights were shown live but are now taped for a delayed broadcast. The admission price still remains at $1,000 and $500 for adults and children respectively. Bell time is 20:00hrs.
Eye injury ends Boucher’s.... From page 30 been a true Proteas warrior, a patriotic South African, a fighter who asks nothing and gives everything. You have been a 100 percenter for this team. “You have been more than a performer, you have b e e n a m o t i v a t o r, a n inspirer, an energizer… and a good friend to many. You leave us today with sad hearts, but also with a deep gratitude for your contributions to our team, and to us as people. The fighting spirit you brought to team remains with us. We wish you a good as possible recovery from your injury. As we bid you a farewell as an International cricketer and wish you well for your future, we keep you as a friend and respected
Proteas warrior.” This tour to England was set to be his final duty for South Africa and the Lord’s Test would have been his 150th appearance. Boucher will end on 998 international dismissals, including 555 from 147 Tests, which is a record. He also took a catch in the field against West Indies when AB de Villiers was keeping. “The extent of the eye injury can be described as severe. The eyeball (globe of the eye) was repaired during the operation,” Mohammed Moosajee, the South Africa manager, told ESPNcricinfo earlier on Tuesday. “The longterm prognosis at this stage remains unknown. He will return home as soon as able to travel and the selectors will announce a replacement
shortly.” The South Africa selectors will name a replacement for Boucher on Wednesday. Thami Tsolekile, earmarked as the successor to Boucher and nationally contracted from April 1, is the likeliest candidate to be called up. However, the coach Gary Kirsten said AB de Villiers would take the gloves for the first Test at The Oval. Tsolekile recently played for the South Africa A side in the two unofficial Tests against Sri Lanka A and has also been named in the squad to travel to Ireland to shadow the senior side from the third Test. He last played for South Africa in 2004 when he represented the country in three Tests including one against England at Port Elizabeth.