SPORTS SECTION E
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THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017
High School Basketball Nationals starts today By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net FOLLOWING the completion of the 35th Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic for senior boys, the Bahamas Basketball Federation/ Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is getting set to host their National High School Tournament, featuring the senior boys and girls and Family Island divisions. The tournament, featuring some 31 teams, is set to get underway 3pm today and will wrap up on Monday night when the championship game is played. The opening ceremonies will be
held at 10:30am Friday. The Jack Hayward Gymnasium will be the host for the senior girls and Family Island Division, while the senior boys’ games will be played at the St George’s Auditorium. “We are very, very excited about this tournament,” said Evon Wisdom, who heads the Sports Division at the Ministry of Education. “Bahamians should realise that this is actually three tournaments wrapped up into one. “I think what makes this different is that we have young ladies participating in the tournament as well as we will have the Family Islands competing in the small schools division for the teams that
will not get a chance to compete for the title against the senior boys teams.” Wisdom noted that the small schools division is so important because they want to pair the schools with the smaller population to compete against their peers rather than being faced with the challenge as they do in Hugh Campbell where they face teams that have a larger population of students. “We know that all of the divisions will be very exciting. We know that the senior girls will be exciting and we know that after the Hugh Campbell Tournament, the senior boys’ division will also be very exciting,” Wisdom stated. “But who will be the best small
school in the country to emerge as the champions? We have about 10 schools playing in that division, so we anticipate that this will be the biggest tournament in the country.” The tournament comes on the heels of the Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic on Sunday at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium where the Tabernacle Baptist Falcons knocked off the CI Gibson Rattlers to win their seventh title, the first since 2010. Also joining the Rattlers from New Providence are the Jordan Prince William Falcons, the Bahamas Association of Independ-
Girls’ Under-12 Final It appeared as if it was a matchup of David vs Goliath, but this
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Junior tennis champions T
he Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association completed its Subway Junior National Classics yesterday at the National Tennis Centre with Sydney Clarke, Michael Major Jr and Kaylee Kanuka winning the final three titles. Clarke, 15, cemented her position as the top junior female player in the country with her 6-2, 6-2 win over Gabriela Donaldson in the girls’ 18-and-under singles final. “My match was great. I love my performance today. I was very calm and all my shots were excellent,” Clarke said. “At the beginning I was a little concerned, but I just relaxed and played my game.” In the first set, Clarke went up
three breaks for a 5-1 lead before Donaldson managed to stay in the match with a break for a 5-2 deficit. But Clarke held serve to secure the set. When they resumed play for the second set, Clarke got her second break to go up 4-2 and she ended the set on her third break for the match. “I could still work on my serves and my slices,” said Clarke, in critiquing her game. “I also need to improve on my physical fitness and I will be okay.” Clarke, 15, said the competition was tough in Grand Bahama, but she’s just excited that she was able to survive as the champion. A little dejected, 17-year-old Donaldson admitted that it wasn’t her best performance. “It was okay. I wished I could have played better and smarter, but she hit some good shots,” said Donaldson. “I just could have
played smarter because she hit some good shots. “I just need to work on staying with the points a little longer.” Boys’ Under-12 Final Michael Major Jr secured a 6-1, 6-0 win over Dentry Mortimer Jr to pull off his second victory in their head-to-head match-up for the year. “It was a good match. My strokes were very good. The only thing I could say I didn’t do well in this match was my volley approach,” Major Jr stated. “I missed a lot of my open shots in my volleys.” Major Jr, a 10-year-old sixth grader at St John’s College, said he played better than the last time he met Mortimer when he won 6-2, 6-2. “It feels good,” stressed Major Jr, who was broken by Mortimer for a 1-1 tie in the first set, but went up a break at 5-1 and held on for
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Perry Christie, expressing the gratitude of the Bahamian people to FIFA and the Bahamas Football Association, said it was a delight to have hosted the successful CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship in the brand new state-of-the-art stadium at Malcolm Park last week. But he indicated that their expectations have now risen even higher as the country prepares to host the prestigious FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017 April 27 to May 7 at the same venue. “The Bahamas and Bahamians are a most welcoming and hospitable country and people,” said Christie at the official draw for the 16 participating teams Monday night at Atlantis Theatre on Paradise Island. “As a government and as a people, we proudly and eagerly look forward to welcoming teams, representatives and fans from all over the world to this world-class event in a few months time. “It also speaks volumes as to the will and determination of our nation to use sports as a vehicle for social development and upliftment of our people, especially our youth, and for personal development. As a government, we are committed to the development of the whole man and sport is but one of the avenues by which we hope to achieve this.” Christie, who headed the list of dignitaries that included Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson, Anton Sealey, president of the BFA and both Jaime Yarza, head of FIFA events and Joan Cusco, executive vice president of Beach Soccer Worldwide, said he’s encouraged and proud of the growing partnership between The Bahamas Football Association and FIFA, and the resulting goodwill and support by FIFA to the development of football in our nation. “The results have been real and tangible and we thank this worldwide body for all that they have done and will do in the future,” he said. Christie invited the world to come to the Bahamas and to be a part of an excit-
SHOWN (l-r) are Gabriela Donaldson, Michael Major Jr, BLTA secretary Darnette Weir, Dentry Mortimer Jr and Sydney Clarke with their trophies yesterday. SEE MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 2 Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
PM HAS HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FIFA BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
the win before he breezed through the second set. Not only is Major Jr holding his own on the court, but he’s also doing it in the classroom. He has been selected by St John’s College as their representative for the Junior Primary School Student of the Year honours. Congratulations for a job well done. Mortimer said he felt he could have played better. “I wasn’t concentrating enough. I was getting frustrated,” he said. “I missed a lot of the easy ones.” Mortimer, an 11-year-old sixth grader at Hillcrest Academy, said he hopes that the next time they meet, the results will be different.
Charlton top athlete of Big Ten Track Championships again BAHAMIAN Devynne Charlton was named the top athlete of the Big Ten Track Championships, it was announced by the conference office on Tuesday. Charlton scored 28 points to win two gold medals and a silver over the weekend to earn the award for the second year in a row. She was nearly perfect at Big Ten, winning all three of her preliminary heats Friday, with one in the 60-metre dash, 60-metre hurdles and 200-metre dash. Saturday, she opened her day by breaking the school record to win the 60m dash with a time of 7.26 seconds, which ranks 11th in the country. About 40 minutes later, she was back on the track to defend her 60m hurdles title, which she did by tying her own school record and Bahamian record with a time of 7.97 seconds. That time ranks second in the country. Another 40 minutes went by before she was on the track in the
200m dash final, where she ran the No. 2 time in programme history, No. 33 in the country, crossing the line in 23.53 seconds to take the silver medal. Charlton is the first woman in program,e history to win the 60m dash Big Ten title. She is also the only woman in school history to win the 60m hurdles conference title and now has two of them to her name. No Purdue woman has ever won a 200m dash conference title, making Charlton’s secondplace finish in the event the best in school history. The 60m dash and 60m hurdles have been contested at the Big Ten Championships since 1999. Prior to that, the 55-metre dash and 55-metre hurdles were held from 1985 to 1998, while the 60yard dash and 60-yard hurdles existed from 1982 to 1987, except for 1985 which contested both events at 55-meters. Sybil Perry won the 60-yard dash in 1982 and 1983, while Ali-
DEVYNNE CHARLTON wins the women’s 60 metres. cia Bass won the 55-metre hurdles in 1985. Charlton is just the second woman in Big Ten history to win the 60m dash and 60m hurdles at the same meet. The feat occurred four times in the 55-metre hurdles
and 55-metre dash by three different individuals. Charlton is the second woman in conference history to earn Big Ten Track Athlete of the Championships in back-to-back years and the first since 2012 when Chris-
tina Manning of Ohio State did so. Like Charlton, Manning won the 60m dash, 60m hurdles and was runner-up in the 200m dash. Charlton’s 28 points at the conference meet are the most since Manning. Four women earned back-toback Athlete of the Championships honours prior to the award being split into track as well as field distinctions. Over the last two seasons, Charlton scored 51 points at Big Ten Indoor Championships. The total is more than three schools scored in the same time frame. Charlton is an NCAA Championships qualifier in the 60m dash and 60m hurdles. A year ago, she finished third at the meet in hurdles. Final declarations and entries will be announced later this week. Chartlon also picked up Purdue’s Sportsmanship Award on the women’s side. For the men, the honour went to Justin Veteto, who earned a bronze medal in the 60m hurdles.