Guyana’s delegation expresses confidence ahead of IMMAF Pan Am event
Guyana will be fielding a team of four athletes for this year’s IMMAF Pan American Championships in what will be our first appearance at the event.
The 2022 International Mixed Martial Arts Federation Pan American Championships will take place in Monterrey, Mexico from June 22 – 24, with athlete check-in and the Tournament Draw on June 21.
The event will be IMMAF’s first Pan American tournament since before the pandemic, back in 2019.
Head Coach of the Guyana Police Force Mixed Martial Arts Club Troy Bobb, who oversaw the team’s preparation for the tournament is confident the team will show their skill in Mexico.
“The team is very good. They went through all the training I provided for them. It’s not there yet, it’s just half of the journey we’ve travelled through. When we get there (Mexico), we can come back and say yes, we’ve done the hard work.”
Guyana’s team consists of our first female fighter to participate in an IMMAF event, lightweight Shenese Bobb, alongside Welterweight Trevlon Clarke, Middleweight Ijaz Cave and heavyweight Carl Ramsay.
Shenese Bobb said, “Being the only female on the team is very much a motivation for me.”
Her most recent international competition was in 2018.
In her division, only two other lightweight athletes stand in her way.
“I’m confident yes but not over confident because we don’t know what the other two females are bringing to the table. I’m just going to go out there and give it my best shot.”
Ijaz Cave competes in a packed welterweight division. He will be hoping to bounce back from his loss against medalist Robin Enontekio at the World Championships earlier this year – which was his first and only international appearance to date.
“I was given the opportunity to represent the country in January at the IMMAF World Championships. The experience I gained over there, I was able to share it with my teammates and this trip I expect our team to perform much better.”
Both Carl Ramsay and Trevlon Clarke will be making their respective MMA debuts in Monterrey.
Ramsay, enters a five-man heavyweight division against some tough opposition in search of gold.
Clarke is a member of the Guyana Police Force and has previously competed in other martial arts. He formerly competed at a Kempo Karate Open held in Barbados in 2018 and won three medals.
Notably, he was slated to compete for Guyana at the Abu Dhabi World Championships. He was only unable to attend due to an issue with the team’s lab testing.
“The feeling is quite wonderful. To approach the (championship) I am ready to put up my best. I am ready to show that we is Guyanese and we are much stronger as a team and with my coach and my President’s training we are going to do well.”
Athletes have the chance to gain World Amateur MMA Ranking points with top-performing athletes seeded for the end-of-year IMMAF World Championships.
IMMAF’s Pan American member nations include Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, St. Martin, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, United States of America and Venezuela.
