Banks DIH Sports Club Manager set to realize his dreams

Ramnarayan poses with Andrew Lewis’ championship belt shortly after the former world champion returned home after knocking out James Page .

By Michael Benjamin

Ever since he was a teenager, Jimmy Ramnarayan nurtured strong dreams of making an indelible mark in the sports fraternity. He was an amateur boxer under the stewardship of the late sportscaster and President of the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA), Brinsley Lewis (BL) Crombie but after experiencing limited successes, decided that the sport was too arduous and so he decided to quit.
The young man was recently offered a post as Manager of the Banks DIH Sports Club and even though his substantive position has not yet been confirmed, he is confident that he could make an impact on the local sports scene.
Ramnarayan’s tenure in the sports fraternity started when he was merely nineteen years old after he decided to ‘try out his hand’ in boxing. He was jolted into reality after his first sparring session. “I started out nurturing deep hopes of becoming a champion but during sparring sessions and also in the actual fights I took more punches than I give so naturally I felt misplaced,” said Ramnarayan.
All was not lost, though, because Ramnarayan noticed that he had a shrewd proclivity for administrative matters. He wisely left the boxing ring but continued to offer his services as an advisor, coach and matchmaker. Of note also, was Ramnarayan’s posting as matchmaker and organizer of the People’s Syndicate Promotion’s group headed by Keith ‘Buckilo’ Bazilio.
Added to that, he was the lynchpin of Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis’ career when that boxer plied his trade locally. Ramnarayan also made a major contribution to Gary St Clair’s career before that boxer left for the USA and subsequently Australia, where he eventually won a world title for Guyana. Now Ramnarayan has moved to another level and he intends to use his newly acquired job at the nation’s premiere beverage manufacturing company to realize the goal of uniting Guyanese through sports.
Ramnarayan evaluated the current situation and believes that there is still much hope for local sports stalwarts desirous of launching onto the international scene. “Local sports administrators need to work together, put aside personal aggrandizements and look at the broader picture of the country’s achievement,” he opined. Still a strong boxing advocate, Ramnarayan believes that local amateur boxers are most capable of procuring that coveted Olympic Gold medal that has eluded this country for far too long. “We need to encourage the corporate community to once again get on board in our drive towards international stardom,” posits Ramnarayan. He reflects with nostalgia on the most fruitful years of amateur boxing when corporate help was easily accessible. “I remember the contributions from businessmen the likes of Randolph Singh aka Ducky, Compton Beckles, George Humphrey, Keith Bazilio and George Mc Donald among others. Their input made a huge difference in the lives of our sports people,” Ramnarayan noted.
He also took a jab at the many persons that occupy the Presidential seat in sports organizations but do little else but promote their own images. “There are too many bureaucrats and aristocrats in sports administrative bodies when what we really need is genuine hard working people with the interest of the sport at heart,” he said.
Ramnarayan’s job at the beverage company entails the coordination of sports activities that would benefit the organization that he works for. He remains adamant that with the right applications he would be able to make that difference in the sports fraternity. After all, it’s not as though he has to duck from punches to achieve his goal.