By HAYDN GILL From Nation News

Participating countries include Cayman Islands

BARBADOS will be looking to top the medal tally for the second straight year in third edition of the Caribbean Development Boxing Tournament in St Lucia next week.

The Bajans will be represented by a 19-member team during the tournament which will be held at the Beausejour Indoor Facility from December 11 to 17.

Barbados, winners of 17 medals last year, will have a team of 14 men boxers and five women.

Among the men will be Jabali Breedy, who competed at the International Boxing Association (AIBA) Boxing Championship in Germany earlier this year, while lightweight Caribbean boxing champion Kimberly Gittens will be among the women.

The squad will be accompanied by three team officials and three technical officials. In addition, Kathy Harper-Hall, who chairs the Caribbean Working Committee for Boxing, will be in attendance to oversee the smooth running of the event.

Despite several challenges, the St Lucia Boxing Association is working hard to make the event a successful one.

Seventeen Caribbean countries have registered a total of 213 persons to participate in the event. The participating countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Dominica, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, St Maarten, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and hosts St Lucia.

In addition, AIBA will be staging another international course for referee/judges, as was done in Barbados in 2016.

Seventeen officials from across the Caribbean have been registered to participate in this course. If they are successful, they will gain the international one-star qualification. The course will be conducted by facilitators from Canada and the United States. The two participants from Barbados are Charles “Silky” Gill and Joan Williams. (PR/HG)

Barbados team:

Men:

Elite: Jabali Breedy, Ajayi Jones, Brandon Lee, Justin Edwards, Kiomel Miller, Shakaun Lashley, Charles Cox. Youth: Tyree Weekes-Haynes, Donte Powlett. Juniors: Rashawn Holder, Kemar Gaskin. Novices: Rashad Holder, Peter Murray, Donovan Henry.

Women: Iprecious Lythcott, Mary Fraser, Kyesha Applewhaite, Brittany Knight, Kimberly Gittens. Management: Richard Atwell (manager), Gary Bowen (head coach), Kelvin Nowell (assistant coach), Christopher Henry (assistant  coach).

IMAGE: Jabali Breedy is part of the Barbados team for the Caribbean Development Boxing Tournament in St Lucia. (FP)

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