SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) – The planned pre-St. Maarten Day kickboxing championship scheduled for this weekend has been postponed, the organizer announced yesterday.
The event, titled ‘No Mercy Kickboxing’ and sanctioned by the World Full Contact Association (WFCA), a kickboxing association based in The Netherlands, was aimed at showcasing a number of local fighters, especially St. Maarten-born reigning Light-Heavyweight kickboxing champion of the world, Omarie Marsham.
The organizing body, Better Opportunity for Talent Foundation (B.O.F.T.), represented by promoter Mr. Milton ‘Bobby’ Ottley, made the decision to pull the event due to low ticket sales, which he attributed to another event being given priority to use the Festival Village on Saturday although he had booked the venue early.
“The Village was not booked before we made a request for November 9. Afterwards I was told that they are using it for an international show. This makes me feel that the powers that be are ignoring our youngsters. Marsham is a world champion and at all costs, he should have had priority. They pulled the plug without calling me to say, ‘Let’s see how we can compromise’,” Ottley stated.
As a result, he was forced to find another location and date for the event, but by then the damage was already done. The attraction of an internationally-acclaimed performer and other free events billed for this weekend shifted the focus from the championship fight, which, according to Ottley, had the potential of not only showcasing local talent, but opening up the market of sports tourism for St. Maarten.
“This event was a great opportunity to promote sports tourism on St. Maarten as it could have attracted visitors from the surrounding islands in support of their fighters. The line-up included not only Marsham from the south of the island, who has a professional record of five fights – three wins, two by knockout, with two loses – but there was also Nicolas Parlanti and female Featherweight category, Elsa Savitri Benichou, who would have been representing the north of the island.”
Marsham holds an amateur background record of 11 fights – 10 wins, seven by knockout, one draw and one loss, and would have been defending his W.M.T.A. World Title belt which he recently won in June in a faceoff against the hard-hitting Ritchie Siebring Aka “The Hitman” from The Hague, The Netherlands.
Other fighters billed for the event included Lennart Blijd from Suriname, Shanice Josephina of Curacao, as well as other amateur kickboxers from around the Caribbean.
Over the months, Ottley said he requested several meetings with government officials to resolve the issue, but to no avail. As such, he had no choice but to postpone the event to March next year. He had, however, applied for subsidy from the government to cover some of the incidental costs, and received confirmation that it will be given to the kickboxing federation, which he said he had no objections to. Up until Friday evening, the funds had not yet been released.
Source: Souliga Newsday https://www.soualiganewsday.com/index.php?option=com-k2&view=item&id=28242:pre-st-maarten-day-kickboxing-championship-postponed-organizer-criticizes-lack-of-support-for-local-champ&Itemid=504
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