T&T junior boxers Nyrell Hosein and Juan Rodriguez will leave on Friday for Mexico to compete in the Pan American Junior Games Qualifiers from July 12-19 with high hopes.
The 2021 Youth Pan American Games is scheduled for Cali, Colombia this September.
In Mexico, Hosein will contest the 60kg category while Rodriguez will compete in the 56kg division with the hope of punching their respective tickets to the games in South America.
At 17 years, both Hosein and Rodriguez have dominated their respective divisions at the Caribbean Schoolboys and Schoolgirls Championships as well as the Caribbean Youth Boxing Championships over the past two years - they were held in 2018 and 2019.
Cecil Forde, president of the T&T Boxing Association said there are high hopes for the boxers, both of whom will be eligible for the senior elite team when they turn seniors next year.
In 2022, the elite T&T boxers will contest the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, and the Commonwealth Games, both geared towards preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.
According to Forde both Hosein and Rodriguez are almost certain to qualify for the Cali Games.
At the Caribbean Schoolboys and Schoolgirls Championships in 2018 and at the Caribbean Youth Championships in that year, Hosein won gold medals, while Rodriguez claimed gold and silver, respectively at the same tournaments.
Hosein, a student of North Eastern College in Sangre Grande, shot to fame when he defeated Christopher Romeo for the Caribbean Boxing Championship 57kg title in Guyana in 2018. Then 15 years, the form four student said he entered the ring and executed the strategy he had for the fight.
At the same tournament in 2018, Rodriguez produced one of the most entertaining fights of the tournament, displaying an impressive array of left hooks to earn a unanimous-decision victory over Guyana's Francis Sukhu.