SPORTS SECTION E
THE FINISH LINE
Column, See page 3
FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2018
Gold medal hopes for bodybuilders in Canada By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net FOUR men’s divisional champions from the Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation’s Novice and Open Championships will be heading to Montreal, Canada, to compete in the IFBB Elite Pro this weekend. Accompanied by the federation’s honourees Leonardo ‘Nardo’ Dean as coach and
Wellington ‘Cat’ Sears as manager and international judge, the team will comprise of Gemo Smith and Terran Knowles, who will both compete in the men’s physique and Giovanni Farrington and Paul ‘Mighty Mouse’ Wilson. The competitors will go through the weigh-in today and the competition will be held at the Sheraton Congress Centre on Saturday and Sunday. Sears said the goal is for the four competitors to return home with four gold medals.
“We have an excellent strong team,” Sears said. “These competitors just competed in the nationals where they won their divisions in bodybuilding and physique. “We have a good coach and a manager in myself, so we’re looking forward to nothing else than four gold from them. We don’t want anything else. Anything else, they can keep it.” The Bahamas is expected to be among athletes competing from Canada, the United States, South
and Central America and the Caribbean. This will be the first time that the Bahamas will be participating in the event. “We feel pretty strong and we look very good,” Sears stressed. Sears will also make history as he will be the first Bahamian to serve as an international judge at the show. “I’m looking forward to that, but I really want to see how well this team performs,” Sears told Tribune Sports.
LaFleur to make pro debut in Africa By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net fter making an exhibition posing appearance at the Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation’s Novice and Open Championships over the weekend at the Melia resort, Lorraine LaFleur is off to Africa to make her pro debut. One of the last four competitors to earn their pro card within the last few months, LaFleur will be the lone Bahamian participating in the Arnold Classic Africa 2018. Scheduled for the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg, Gauteng, the Arnold Classic returns to Africa for the third year under the vision of Arnold Schwarzenegger with a number of activities to satisfy just about everybody’s appetite. LaFleur, a former national bodybuilding champion who made the successful transition to physique where she earned her pro card in Bogota, Colombia, earlier this year, said she’s looking forward to competing in Africa. “This is going to be my first time competing as a pro and I’m going all the way to Africa to do it, so it’s going to be very special,” said LaFleur, who has made the trek to the competition by herself. “This is something that I’ve been working on for the past few months. The nationals gave me a good chance to demonstrate to the public what to expect from me and so based on what I did, I think I’m ready.” Federation president Joel Stubbs, a former Mr Olympia competitor, spent some time working with LaFleur in getting her ready to compete in the competition. “I think she’s going to do very well,” Stubbs said. “She is a veteran bodybuilder who has competed in a number of international events, so she knows what to do in competitions like this.” The only difference, according to Stubbs, is that LaFleur will be competing against pro bodybuilders who do this for a living. So he said she will have to be prepared to face some stiff competition. “It’s not easy to compete in pro competitions, but as a pro, she has to learn to compete against the best in the world,” Stubbs stated. “I think she has the ability to compete with the other women on the stage. We will see how well she does.” LaFleur, whose teenage daughter Allyssa Fox is following in her footsteps as an amateur bodybuilder, said she spent the past two decades competing to get to this point and now she’s eager to go to Africa and make her presence felt. “This is my first pro show, but from what I heard and seen, I know that I can go there and be competitive,” LaFleur said. “I’m just going to go there and give it my best shot.” Stubbs said that is all that they could ask for from LaFleur, whom he said has endured a great deal of ups and downs to get her pro card. He said he’s confident that with the work she has put in, she will do very well.” The judging will take place today to determine what category LaFleur will be participating in when the competition gets underway on Saturday and wraps up on Sunday.
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LORRAINE LaFleur is all set to make her pro debut as the lone Bahamian participating in the Arnold Classic Africa 2018.
MIAMI MARLINS SIGN UP ANFERNEE SEYMOUR By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net ANFERNEE Seymour is back with the franchise where his pro baseball career began and has improved his play this season in his new surroundings. After being released by the Atlanta Braves (Florida Fire Frogs) on May 6, Seymour was signed by the Miami Marlins on May 10 and was subsequently assigned to the Jupiter Hammerheads. The Hammerheads are in first place in the standings of the Class A Advanced Florida State League. In five games with the club, Seymour is hitting .316 with an .876 OPS and .526 slugging percentage. Seymour recorded hits in four of his five games with the club, including yesterday’s 5-2 win over Fort Myers, the team’s third in a row. Hitting second in the lineup, he finished 1-5 and scored the team’s first run of the game. Fort Myers attempted a pick-off at first base, but Seymour’s crafty base running from third base allowed him to sneak home on the play to give the Hammerheads a 1-0 lead. He was batting .195/.242/.287 with 28strikeouts in 87 at bats with the Fire Frogs this season prior to his release. In his Hammerheads debut, Seymour opened 2-4 with a two-run home run in an 8-4 loss to Lucius Fox and the Charlotte Stone Crabs. He had another multiple hit game Wednesday when he went 2-3 in a 3-2 win over Fort Myers. Jupiter travels to Charlotte on Friday for a three-game series before returning home for three games against Daytona. Last season, Seymour’s year came to an abrupt end before he had an opportunity to suit up in the Offseason Arizona Fall League. He was suspended for “violation of team rules,” according to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo and was removed from the roster of the Peoria Javelinas. He concluded his season with the Fire Frogs with his best month of the 2017 campaign. The then 23rdranked prospect hit .355 through 21 games and collected an OBP of .405 in the final full month of the year. He rose eight spots in the Braves prospect list over the course of the season. With the Fire Frogs, Seymour appeared in 78 games in the Florida State League. He hit .287 with 17 RBI, an OBP of .346, OPS of .711 scored 42 runs and stole 17 bases.
Strachan: Vincent best man to lead resurgence of boxing By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net DESPITE some opposition to his election as the president of the Bahamas Amateur Boxing Association, veteran boxing personality Pat ‘the Centreville Assassin’ Strachan feels that Vincent Strachan is the best man to lead the resurgence of the sport. During the association’s annual general meeting and election of officers on Saturday, April 21, Vincent Strachan won 7-3 over incumbent assistant secretary Ikana Johnson to replace Wellington Miller, who opted not to seek another term in office. Michelle Minus, another potential candidate, had her application denied
and wasn’t able to participate in the process. Pat Strachan, one of the most prolific boxers the country has ever seen, said he doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about and called on everybody to rally behind Vincent Strachan and help to revive the sport, which has seen a decline over the past year or so. “I would like for all persons involved in boxing to let bygones be bygones and come on board and help support this new administration headed by Vincent Strachan,” Pat Strachan said. “We’re doing this for the amateur boxers. It’s nothing personal with us. I think we need to let bygones be bygones. “Vincent has been around boxing for 40-plus years. He’s
VINCENT STRACHAN been president before and I think he has a contribution to make. I met with him and he has articulated a bold and aggressive
agenda for amateur boxing and for the country. So I want to encourage him. I know there were some things said by the persons who were running against him. But let’s put all this aside and work towards a common good for the sport.” From where he sits looking in, Pat Strachan said the sport needs an infusion and a leader who is willing to get all of the factions together, including Ray Minus Jr, Stevie ‘the Heat’ Larrimore, Quincy ‘Thrill-A-Minute’ Pratt, Johnson, Minus and all other personalities with boxing at heart. “There needs to be a unity in the sport of amateur boxing because there’s been a split for a while,” Pat Strachan noted. “I think once we can get everybody
back on board and support the new administration, we can see the sport take off and soar to new heights again.” Other members of the board are Sherman Johnson as first vice president, veteran coach Locksley Johnson as second vice president, Alene Rodgers as secretary general, Wellington Smith as treasurer and Anstisa Knowles from Lowe Sound, Andros, as the assistant secretary/treasurer. Pat Strachan recommended to Vincent Strachan to firstly “reach out to those persons who ran against him to offer an olive branch and to personally visit all of the clubs and with their trainers and ask for their support and give his support as they show a unified front.