The nation was formally granted membership at the recent AIBA Extraordinary Congress in Montreux.

The island, which is split into a French-speaking part and a Dutch-speaking part, has a population of just over 70,000 people.

St Maarten Boxing Federation President Shawn Blair admits the sport has been “dormant” in the country but he is confident being accepted as a member of amateur boxing’s worldwide governing body will provide several benefits.

“It will mean a lot to us, especially the young people of St Maarten who are interested in boxing,” he said.

“Our boxing has been dormant for a little while and with this now we can uplift the current state of boxing in St Maarten.

“We can get a lot of training now with referees, judges and coaches and we can go in to schools to extend our boxing programme.

“Boxing has been around for a very long time but nothing has ever really been done about it.

“Now we are trying our best as the new association to make it possible and to make boxing what the AIBA family will expect.”

Blair also believes becoming the 201^st NF of AIBA will help the country’s boxers transfer their form in continental events to worldwide competitions.

“We have some great talent here – we have been in the Caribbean Championships for many years and we always go back with a gold medal,” he added.

“So now in the AIBA family we can aim higher and move forward.”

The development comes after AIBA President C K Wu has met with the Caribbean National Federations to discuss their ongoing development and the signing of the HeadsUp! Charter.

Wu watched the finals of the Caribbean Development Tournament in Barbados before leading a meeting of governing body Presidents.

The HeadsUp! charter focuses on training boxers to maintain a heads-up stance to help prevent concussions and cuts.