Boodram brothers kick up gold in Curacao

The sport of kickboxing in Trinidad and Tobago has received a major boost with the success of Nick and Richard Boodram at the World Kickboxing Network (WKN) Caribbean Championships in Curacao last Saturday.

The Princes Town brothers struck gold for Trinidad and Tobago at the championships held at the Don Bosco Hall, in front of a large cheering crowd. The elder of the two, 18-year-old Nick Boodram came up against Curacao’s national champion Daniel Schoop in the superfeatherweight full contact finals and battled bravely to earn a draw. For his efforts he got the gold medal. In the preliminaries he got past Leroy Marcos of Bonaire easily — outpointing him for a unanimous decision. His younger brother Richard came up against Johan Croes of Aruba in the low-kick final. Richard entered the final as the underdog to the Aruban but took the fight to his opponent with some fantastic combinations of punches and kicks. When the bout was over it was declared a draw to the thunderous applause from the appreciative crowd. Richard was voted “Fighter of the Night” by the officials of the tournament. ”At the moment I am just very happy with the victory and the fact that I can bring back a gold medal for my country. I worked hard going into the tournament and came through in the end, which is very satisfying,” said Richard yesterday.

WKN representative for Trinidad and Tobago Martin McClashie said he was elated for the youngsters and was happy that this country is finally putting out quality competitors in kickboxing. “The success of these guys makes me very pleased and now we can say that Trinidad and Tobago is putting out quality fighters in kickboxing.” The Boodrams who live at Borde Narve Village, Princes Town are now the toast of the sleepy village with their regional success. They are bent on going on to win international titles and as such have set up a gym at their home to continue their development under the watchful eyes of their father.  They expressed thanks to Member of Parliament for their area Nizam Baksh and Acme Agricultural Supplies for assisting them with their trip to Curacao.