PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce & Industry (COCI) commends the initiative of the Better Opportunity for Talent (BOFT) President Milton “Bobby” Ottley in organizing the pre-St. Maarten Day World Kickboxing Competition.
The competition has been sanctioned by the World Muay Thai Association (WMTA) according to BOFT. Muay Thai or Thai Boxing is the fastest growing combative sport in the world.
COCI President of the Board Benjamin Ortega and COCI Executive Director Anastacio Baker says that sports tourism is a niche for the country and should be promoted more as there are opportunities to diversify the tourism-oriented economy by developing other niches that would attract more visitors to the destination.
Ortega and Baker commends the organizers of the event for taking the initiative and appeals to the business sector and community overall to support the pre-St. Maarten Day event.
Ottley said that fighters from around the region will be participating in the WMTA sanctioned competition. WMTA is one of the oldest amateur and professional sanctioning organizations of Muay Thai in the world for the sport. Created in the Netherlands in 1984, the organization became one of the major sanctioning bodies for professional Muay Thai.
The competition will feature St. Maarten’s very own Light Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion of the World, Omarie Marsham. Shanice Josefina and Lennart Blijd, both professional fighters from Amsterdam the capital of the Netherlands, will be participating in the competition.
Shanice Josefina has roots from Curacao and Suriname and is a three-year lightweight professional. Lennart Blijd is a professional two-year welterweight fighter in Kickboxing and Muay Thai. He hails from Suriname but has lived his entire life in Amsterdam.
The competition will take place on November 10 at the L.B. Scott Sports Auditorium on the Pondfill.
PHOTO: COCI Offices, Philipsburg, with cut-out of St. Maarten’s very own Light Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion of the World, Omarie Marsham (left) with COCI President of the Board Benjamin Ortega (2nd from right) and COCI Executive Director Anastacio Baker (1st from right) looking on.
