THE 3rd Annual District Inter-Kindergarten Tournament took place on Thursday evening, with the Pelican Day Nursery, Bullbrook defeating The Placenta Playcentre, Harman's Water by six bouts to three.
The most closely fought of the nine contests was between Pelican's Jamie Kinross (2) and Placenta's Peter Radcliffe (20 months). The former's superior reach was telling in the opening rounds, but Radcliffe weathered the storm and had his opponent in some difficulty in the eighth. However, a flurry of uppercuts from Kinross put paid to the fightback, and Radcliffe succumbed to a knockout in the tenth round.
Headteacher of Pelican, Mrs Joanne Prady paid tribute to the coaching skills of her staff following her school's second victory in the competition in as many years. "At the Pelican Day Nursery, we not only insist that all our staff are NNEB qualified, but that they also have full approval from the British Boxing Board of Control."
Mrs Prady scoffed at suggestions from some quarters that allowing toddlers to box is barbaric, and possibly even illegal. "You'll always get this sort of ignorant criticism," she slammed. "But what these people don't understand is that banning it will only drive the whole thing underground. Some of these children just live to fight, and there's nothing anyone could do to stop them."