06302016 sports

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SPORTS SECTION E

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

Road to Rio

Olympics, Page 3

Bahamas tops medal podium after strong opening night By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net IT WAS a strong opening night performance for Team Bahamas at the XXI Caribbean Island Swimming Championships as the team looked to set the tone for a possible historic meet. The Bahamas topped the medal podium numerous times on day one and set several new CISC records last night at the Betty Kelly Kenning National Swim Complex. Joanna Evans and Olympian Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace lived up to expectations with gold medal swims and CISC records in their respective events. Evans took the first medal for the Bahamas on the night with a finish of 8:40.60 seconds in the 800m Free while Vanderpool-

BUDDY HIELD AND PELICANS ALL SET FOR NBA SUMMER LEAGUE By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net THE fanfare of the draft and introduction to his new team have subsided, now the next step on the NBA journey for Buddy Hield will be the proving ground for all rookies and players still in search of a roster spot. Hield and the New Orleans Pelicans will compete in the Samsung NBA Summer League hosted July 8-18 in Las Vegas Nevada. Some of the league’s top prospects of the future will invade the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus. Hield, the sixth overall pick in the draft, will headline the Pelicans roster alongside 33rd overall pick Cheick Diallo. The Pels roster at the moment also includes NBA D-League veterans Larry Drew II, Nick Minnerath and Michale Kyser. Drew starred for New Orleans in last year’s Vegas Summer League and spent the year with Monaco in France. Other noteworthy players on the roster include former North Carolina State guard Anthony “Cat” Barber, and one of the fastest growing prospects out of China, He Tienju. Hield and the Pels will open Summer league play Friday, July 8 in a matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers and second overall pick Brandon Ingram at 10:30pm local time. In game two they will face the Utah Jazz, Sunday, July 10 at 8pm local time. They will complete the prelims against the Sacramento Kings, Monday July 11 at 10pm local time. Teams will compete in three preliminary games before being seeded in a tournament that leads to the Championship Game on July 18. Each team will play at least five games in Las Vegas. The 22-year-old Hield said that going into the draft, he wanted to be picked by New Orleans – as did his agent and most importantly, his mother – for a variety of reasons, but the presence of three-time AllStar Anthony Davis was at the top of the list. “He’s a special talent,” Hield said of the 23-yearold Davis. “He’s a guy who can score the ball in a variety of ways. I just can’t wait to talk to him and learn from him. He’s going to be the guy to help him and space the floor for him and

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Wallace took the 100m Fly in 1:00.49. Other senior members of the team were able to lead the way for the 68-member Bahamian contingent with the 1550m/800m Free, 200m Breat, 100m Fly and Mixed Relay 200m Free on the schedule. Matthew Lowe took gold in the 1500 Free in a CISC record setting time of 16:22.01, while Laura Morely won the 200m Breast in 2:39.34. Dustin Tynes won silver in the 200m Breast in 2:20.97 and Vereance Burrows took bronze in the 100m Fly in 55.81. In the 15-17 age group, the Higgs sisters took their familiar spot atop the medal podium in the 200m Breast. Albury Higgs finished first in a CISC record setting time of 2:36.43 while Lilly Higgs was second in 2:42.87.

JOANNA EVANS

N’Nhyn Fernander won bronze in the 100m Fly in 57.01. In the Boys 13-14 200m Breast, Izaak Bastian won gold and also set a new CISC record in 2:23.43. Lamar Taylor was the youngest individual medal winner for the Bahamas on the day with gold and a new CISC record in the Boys 1112 100m Fly with a time a 1:04.59. In the Mixed Relay 200m Free, the Bahamas won gold in the 1112, silver in the 15-17 and bronze in the senior divisions. Day two will feature the 200m Free, 50m Fly, 100m Back, 400m Individual Medley and 400m Free Relays. The opening prelims session begins at 9am and the evening session of the finals begins at 5:30pm. Earlier this month, Bahamas Swimming Federation President Algernon Cargill said the 69-member team was comprised

with the goal of winning the CISC at the forefront. “It’s the first time that we are hosting the CISC in the Bahamas and our goal is to win the CISC, so we have put together a balanced team because there are no size limitations for us as the host country,” he said. “So we picked a team that we know will provide us with some quality swims and will have excellent representation here at home as we try to win the CISC title for the first time.” The team features 34 male and 35 females between the ages of 11 and 26. In the past, the Bahamas has placed second and third, but never has the team been as large as this. The largest CISC team to represent the country prior to this year’s meet was about 30 members.

Best swimmers in Caribbean making a splash in Bahamas By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net s the premier swimming meet in the region got underway yesterday, Prime Minister Perry Christie used the platform to discuss the local infrastructural improvements as key to the sport’s development. Mr Christie closed out the opening ceremonies for the XXI Caribbean Island Swimming Championships at the Betty Kelly Kenning Aquatic Centre with a pledge to improve swimming facilities throughout the country and increase opportunities for prospective athletes. “We are a chain of islands spread over thousands of square miles. A country like the Bahamas has to see the provision of swimming pools as work to be done. It is a work in progress,” he said. “I wish as a declaration and proclamation to indicate that in islands like Abaco, Exuma and

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ARIEL WEECH, of the Bahamas, competes yesterday in the XXI Caribbean Island Swimming Championships at the Betty Kelly Kenning National Swim Complex. Photo by Tim Clarke/Tribune Staff

Stingers in 9th edition of summer basketball camp

COACH Stephen Strachan conducts the summer basketball camp.

By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net THE Stingers Basketball Youth Association is into the 9th edition of their annual summer basketball camp. As it nears a decade, it continues to expand under coach Stephen Strachan with dozens of boys and girls aged 6-18 participating in the camp, hosted at the DW Davis Gymnasium. “This year the growth has been fantastic. I was pleasantly surprised on day one. We are becoming a household name and the brand is building. Parents and kids are recognising it,” Strachan said. “We have coach Tony Hobbs visiting this week and the camp is going tremendously. They are coming in early and staying late to get extra work in. We thank God we have

been growing and we continue to grow.” The camp began June 27 and continues until July 15, hosted 9am to 1pm Monday to Friday. Strachan said that with an experienced staff of coaches and trainers, the coach-to-student ratio is one of the major benefits of the camp. “The numbers are always manageable, our camper per instructor ratio works well. Here you will get a lot of reps, you will learn the skills and fundamentals of basketball and you will become a better player,” he said. In addition to Strachan and his team, this year the camp will be facilitated by Tony Hobbs, head basketball instructor at Bridge Basketball Academy. Located in Duncanville, Texas, Bridge Basketball Academy con-

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