By Melton Williams, Staff Reporter
ST. GEORGES, Grenada:
JAMAICA'S bid to claim the Caribbean Amateur Boxing Association (CABA) championship received a slight setback before action on yesterday's opening day of the three-day tournament.
Promising junior boxer Rudolph Hedge, who was highly touted to mine gold, will be idle as a result of him being the only entry for the flyweight division.
This led the organisers to make a "no contest" ruling. However, Hedge will be presented with the medal out of the ring but the team will not be in a position to be awarded with the points, a decision which was protested by the Jamaican technical staff.
Jamaica protested on the grounds that before the team had departed it was informed Hedge, who suffered a similar fate during the 2000 championship on home soil, would have an opponent.
The rules governing the tournament read: (a) Any boxer who was originally matched, and his opponent fails to show up as part of his delegation, shall be awarded the medal only. There shall be no official presentation of such medals, and no points will be awarded.
Jamaica's manager, Luke Irons, said the decision was difficult to accept. "If we had known this we would not have wasted money to travel with a boxer who is not participating. The least they could do is to give us the points.
"What makes it even harder is that Hedge's opponent was from the host country," said Irons.
But Jamaica were not the only team to suffer as defending champions Guyana received a similar blow.
Apart from the controversy surrounding Hedge, the Jamaican camp was in high spirits after the draw was completed.
Commenting on the draw, Irons is of the opinion his team is in a stronger position to wrestle championship honours from Guyana.
According to Irons "the draw can make or break you". In Jamaica's case, he thinks the draw favours them more.
Jamaica were scheduled to launch their bid late last night with four bouts - all in the junior category.
Action will heat up on today's second day as Jamaica are expected to score heavily in the junior division, one of two divisions that will contribute points to the team's title.
Jamaica and Barbados are drawn to battle for the junior light flyweight title. Jamaica will be represented by Tarique Francis.
Jamaica have received a bye to the final of the junior welterweight; and their opponent will be from Grenada or Barbados.
Ryan Stone (senior bantamweight), Romaine Myers (senior featherweight), who made the weight after it was reported he was four-pound over on Wednesday, Courtney Harvey (senior lightweight), Sheldon Rudolph (light welterweight), Tsetsi Davis (senior welterweight), Patrick Miller (light middleweight) and Kerron Speid are all favourably drawn to push for gold medals.
