06062016 sports

SPORTS SECTION E

MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016

‘The Greatest’

Ali, 4e

Gardiner leads 400m field with season’s best 44.62

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net STEVEN Gardiner, showing some flashes of his breakout season last year when he broke the men’s 400 metres national record, led a field of Bahamian elite athletes with a sizzling performance in his specialty at the American Track League.

In Saturday’s meet at the Lakewood Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, Gardiner clocked a season’s best of 44.62 seconds as he pulled away from his competitors coming off the first curve and never relinquished the lead.

In fact, coming off the final curve and onto the home stretch, Gardiner shifted in another gear as he pulled away from an American trio that tried to catch him, leaving Michael Berry in second in 45.18, David Verburg in third in

45.30 and Calvin Smith in fourth in 45.61.

Only six other competitors, including world leader Kirani James of Grenada, have run faster than Gardiner so far this year. James has a best of 44.08 while Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown has the next best time by a Bahamian of 45.75 that he ran on May 22 in Rabat. Brown competed in the meet in Atlanta but opted to go down to the 200m where he was fifth in 20.92. The United States got a sweep of the top four spots with Tony McQuay taking the tape in 20.70, followed

by Kendal Williams in 20.71, Dentarius Locke in 20.71 and Dedric Dukes in 20.80.

Meanwhile, Gardiner’s training partner Lanece Clarke contested the women’s 400m where she was eighth in 53.37. The race was another sweep by the Americans with Phyllis Francis taking the title in 50.92. DeeDee Trotter, who

STEVEN GARDINER

had to be assisted off the track, was second in 51.75, Kala Funderburk was third in 52.00 and Kendall Baisden was fourth in 52.09.

Sanya Richards-Ross, working her way back from an injury, also had to be lifted off the track after she failed to finish the women’s 100m. American Shalonda Solomon won the race in 11.28.

And national record holder Jeffery Gibson, competing in the men’s 400m hurdles, was third in 49.49 behind the American 1-2 punch of Jeshua Anderson (48.88) and Quincy Downing (49.32).

Gibson was well off his season’s best of 48.96 that he ran in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 7.

“The time was not what I expected and I had made the decision from running at Eugene that I would take a break. I don’t want to get 4th and 3rd places. I want to get first every time and I want to make sure that if I don’t win I

would’ve given my best,” Gibson said.

“I felt that this race wasn’t my best but each race I do learn something or remember something that I could do better in the future. I will be working on my speed and going a little harder in the gym. After having travelled to a lot of events it takes away from me having regular training and a regular gym routine since I am either travelling or abroad and don’t have the facilities.”

Gibson, a bronze medallist at the IAAF World Championships last year in Beijing, China, said he would not compete again until the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ Nationals over the weekend of June 24-25.

“I have already qualified for Rio, but I will run as if I haven’t,” said Gibson as he looks ahead to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August.

Major Jr beats Rolle in marathon match

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

I

t took a marathon three set for the youthful Kevin Major Jr to dispose of veteran Marvin Rolle in the final of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s final trials for the Davis Cup team.

In an epic showdown before a spare crowd of spectators, the 21-year-old Major needed approximately three hours and 30 minutes to pull off the gruelling 5-7, 7-6 (11-9), 6-4 win over the 32-year-old Rolle at the National Tennis Centre yesterday.

“This match was very exciting, one of the better matches that I played in a long time,” Major said. “After I lost the first set, I knew it wasn’t over, so I just kept plugging and when I had my chances, I took them.

“I was up a break in the second and I lost my serve as I went down 6-5, but I still had enough to pull it off in the tie breaker. Once I got to the third, I knew it was going to be anyone’s match.”

Rolle said it was in December when he played against Rodney Carey that he was challenged by one of the youngsters as he was by Major. But he remembered going down with a shoulder injury and he couldn’t complete the match against Carey. This time, he was determined to play it to the end against Major.

“I never believed this time will come, but I remember when I was young and I was looking up to Mark (Knowles) and Roger (Smith) as the old guys,” Rolle said. “Now the role has switched and it’s interesting how time has changed. It’s fun and it’s good to still be able to go

KEVIN MAJOR JR (left) and MARVIN ROLLE in action during the BLTA final trials for the Davis Cup team.

Photos by Kevin Major Sr out there and compete with these young guys.”

By virtue of reaching the final out of a field of eight competitors, Major and Rolle will be added to the team that is already comprised of brothers Spencer and Baker Newman, who had a classic sibling duo in the final of the Giorgio Baldacci Tennis Tournament in December at the NTC. The quartet will now prepare to travel to Bolivia for the American Zone III Davis Cup Tie July 1-16.

Major, although he participated on the Davis Cup team last year, was unseeded, but prevailed as the top player out of pool A, which included Rodney Carey, Jody Turnquest and Shannon Francis.

Rolle, the player/captain from last year, emerged as the top player out of pool B, which featured Justin Lunn, Donte Armbrister

and William ‘JJ’ Fountain.

Both Major and Rolle advanced to the final undefeated from the series of matches played over the weekend and it was obvious that the bill up was geared towards a keenly contested match.

As it turned out, Rolle got the only break to secure the final game for a 7-5 win in the first set.

However, things changed in the second set as Major got a break to go ahead 4-3. Rolle responded with another break to tie the score at 5-5 as Major double faulted.

Using his wealth of experience, Rolle rallied from a 0-40 deficit to hold serve on advantage and Major held on serve as well to force the tie breaker.

Neither player was able to get up more than a point on each other in the extra period until Major broke away

from a 9-9 margin to seal the deal.

Then in the third and final set, Rolle broke for a 2-1 lead as Major double faulted. But Major regained his composure and got the break back for a 2-2 tie.

They played even at 4-4 before Major’s youthfulness prevailed as he held and broke Rolle 6-4 for the win.

“Marvin is one of the smartest players I’ve ever played against,” Major said.

“He doesn’t allow you to play your game. He’s very smart. He tries to speed it up, but I tried to slow it down and extend the points as long as I could.”

Rolle, who rebounded from a slight ankle twist in the fifth game of the third set, said it was a good match, one that he enjoyed.

“The first set was okay, but as the second set came around, the points started to get more interesting,”

he said. “There was a little more physical movement and we went right down the wire in the tie breaker. I think that pushed us to the limit because in the third set, we just played through it.”

BLTA president Elsworth Donaldson commended both players for their outstanding play in the tournament.

“The finalists played very well throughout their pool and in the final, I think they played one of the better matches that we have seen in the Bahamas for a very long time,” he said. “These guys went three sets blow for blow right down to the wire. It was three hours of high quality tennis, so it showed that the men’s tennis is on the rise.”

Donaldson said he’s confident that their addition to the team will be an added plus. He said they hope to

get the team into Bolivia at least a week in advance so that they can get acclimatised. He said the goal is to get out of zone III. “With the talent that we have on this team, we should definitely be moving onto zone II this year,” he said. “The Newman brothers are in Spain right now and they will fly from there to Bolivia, while Marvin and Kevin will train here until they travel.”

Rolle said he’s now looking forward to travelling to Bolivia for the Davis Cup tie and especially in their quest to climb out of zone III after playing there for the past eight years.

“We have two new guys playing. They are collegiate players and they are doing very well,” he said. “Hopefully we can do well this year and moved up to zone II.” As for Davis Cup, Major said it’s been very tough playing in South America because of the altitude.

“The ball speeds through the air because of the altitude,” he said. “So you have to stick around and take your chances. But if we can play as well as we played in the past, I think with the team that we have, we will be able to pull it off.”

Ceron Rolle served as the tournament director and he noted that despite the small field of players who participated, it turned out very well.

“The guys played very well. Their attitude was very positive,” he said.

“They showed me to be very disciplined and how the younger players should play the game. It was very well. We just wish the two players can go on and help the Bahamas to get out of zone III in Bolivia.”

Momentum building for hosting of Commonwealth Youth Games

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net IT’S still a year away, but the momentum is starting to build for the hosting of the sixth edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games.

Last week, the Local Organising Com-

CAVALIERS VS. WARRIORS GAME 3 @ 9PM JUNE 8 SEE PAGE 5

mittee of the Commonwealth Games Association, along with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology held a press conference to update the plans for the biggest multi-sporting event to be hosted in the Bahamas.

During the press conference, the CGA’s LOC unveiled the logo to be used for the event, scheduled for July 10-23, 2017 as well as held its official flag-raising ceremony.

The press conference was topped off with the drinking of substitute coconut water out of the quaich to celebrate the moment.

A quaich is a special kind of two-handed drinking cup or bowl used in Scotland to drink whiskey or brandy to celebrate an occasion. Wooden commemorative quaichs, designed by Scottish Paul Hodgkiss, were given as presents to the winners of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Logistics of the 2017 CYG Grafton Ifill, the deputy managing director for the CGA’s LOC, set the tone

SEE PAGE 3E

THE Local Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games Association, along with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology last week held a press conference to update the plans for the biggest multi-sporting event to be hosted in the Bahamas.

Photo by Kevin Major Sr

PAGE 2, Monday, June 6, 2016

THE TRIBUNE

JONES AND SUN, WITH 1-7 RECORD, CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE

By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net JONQUEL Jones and the Connecticut Sun continue to struggle and fell to 1-7 in the WNBA standings after a pair of losses this weekend.

In their latest outing Sunday afternoon, Jones recorded a career high nine rebounds, four points and two blocked shots in the Sun’s 86-77 loss to the Indiana Fever.

Connecticut has lost its last six and is off to the worst start in franchise history.

They fell to 1-7 for the first time since 2001 - when they were the Orlando Miracle - with the loss to the Fever.

The loss also put them at 0-4 on their own court for the first time.

“There was frustration tonight because there were stretches where we had selfinflicted turnovers. There were stretches where players got into themselves and then we started running plays wrong. We didn’t execute,” coach Curt Miller said.

Indiana has won six straight over the Sun. In the first game of this weekend’s back-to-back, Jones finished with three points, five rebounds and two assists in an 83-77 loss to the Atlanta Dream.

Atlanta trailed 30-23 before Carla Cortijo scored eight straight to start a 13-0 run for a six-point lead.

Angel McCoughtry’s floater in the lane gave Atlanta a 43-39 lead at the break and the Dream scored the first six points of the third quarter to put the game away for good.

FEVER’S NATALIE ACHONWA, left, shoots as Jonquel Jones, right, defends in the first half of Sunday’s game. (AP) On the season Jones is averaging 10.9 minutes, 4.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.

She posted a career high 10 points in an 93-81 loss to the Seattle Storm on May 28.

Jones and her fellow first round draft picks continue to struggle for playing time early in the season.

“You don’t want them to lose confidence early in the season,” Miller said to Jim Fuller of the New Haven

Register.

“We truly believe it is the coaching staff’s job to put them in positions to be successful. In crunch time we relied on that veteran rotation.

“We really believe in the rookies, believe they have a really great future but at the same time we are not going to put them in positions that they can’t be successful in or put them in positions where it could steal some of their confidence. I can’t

SUN’s Jonquel Jones (35) blocks the shot of Mercury’s Penny Taylor (13) in the second half of a game on May 31. The Mercury defeated the Sun 99-90. (AP) be more pleased with their attitudes, they have worked really hard and are very tal-

ented so I am excited about it and the minutes will certainly come.”

STINGERS BASKETBALL YOUTH ASSOCIATION CONTINUES TO EXPAND WITH SUMMER CAMPS

By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net THE Stingers Basketball Youth Association continues to expand its growth following a successful series of summer camps which have transitioned into a year-long programme.

Head coach Stephen Strachan and his team hosts the camp 10am to noon every Saturday at the AF Adderley Gym. “After camp a lot of the parents were saying they like what they saw and they wanted their kids to continue to play. It started off by tutoring one or two patients and then it got bigger and bigger and I opened it up. Once that happened players started coming. There are players who are on basketball teams who just want to be tutored and to get better there are players who aspire to be on basketball

teams that may have gotten cut but they are training now in advance to make that team and then you have other players that just want to be a part of an organisation,” he said.

“It’s something that’s organised and they find this was the place for them. For a lot of them the dribbling has improved, the shooting has improved, their team concept has improved and that’s what we are about.”

Approximately 50 student-athletes take part in the programme and Strachan highlighted parent participation as one of its major key contributors.

“The parents are entertained because they are seeing their little one who didn’t have these skills, they are playing in organised scrimmages and they are seeing the vast improvement played out in games, not just drills,” he said.

“These kids look forward to it.

These Saturdays giving them the opportunity to play in an organised setting with uniforms, referees, playing a game. The parents are encouraged by these things.”

The Stingers are scheduled to host the 9th edition of their annual summer basketball camp at the DW Davis Gym June 27-July 15. The camp is open to both girls and boys aged 6-18, 9am to 1pm Monday to Friday.

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 considers itself a “basketball specific player-development company founded in 2012 to serve the needs of individual basketball players by providing them access to great player development.”

A press release stated: “Our

specialty is taking players from their current level of play and advancing them to the NEXT level. Bridge trainees represent every advanced level of basketball NBA, overseas, Division I collegiate basketball Division II collegiate basketball, Division III collegiate basketball, Nike EYBL, Adidas Grassroot along with other top tournaments around the nation as well as recreation play.”

Over 30 local AAU clubs have players that specifically develop their technical skills at Bridge Basketball Skills Academy.

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 basket-

ball and you will become a better player,” he said, Since its inception, the Stingers have produced a number of players who have gone on to play at the collegiate level and Strachan said he will continue to search for players with the talent to excel at the sport.

Stephen Strachan Jr recently completed his redshirt sophomore season.

“The Stingers, since we have been in existence, a number of high profile players have come through, the Stingers organisation has produced a number of high profile players that have gone on to university and even the professional ranks, such as J R Cadot, formerly of TCU and now playing professionally in Europe, D’Shon Taylor and Desean Jackson at John Brown University, Tehran Cox of Liberty are just a few of the examples,” Strachan said.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, June 6, 2016, PAGE 3

‘It seems the Zika virus won’t derail Rio 2016’ (CNN) — The Olympic Games arrive in Brazil at a time when the country is ravaged by crises.

With two months to go until the cauldron is lit in Rio de Janeiro, the host of South America’s first Games is grappling with a public health emergency, a governmental meltdown and economic woes.

While pressure and scrutiny in the build up to a major sports event is nothing new, Brazil faces a unique cocktail of difficulties.

But despite the spread of the Zika virus throughout the region, President Dilma Rousseff standing down amid corruption allegations and Brazil’s worst recession in over two decades, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Olympic Committee

(IOC) insist the show will go on.

And as Brazil fights fires within its own borders, the international sporting community is battling its own controversies.

Allegations of doping hang over track and field.

Russia faces the prospect of its athletes missing the Games, while the IOC revealed samples taken from participants at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympics have tested positive for banned substances.

It is against this backdrop that the world’s biggest celebration of sport begins on August 5.

“I think it’s all a perfect storm,” Ed Hula, Olympics expert and founder and editor of online publication Around the Rings, told CNN’s Connect The World.

“Anything bad that could happen to Rio de Janeiro seems to be happening at this point.”

ZIKA It’s caused athletes to pull out of the Games and some countries to unveil special protective uniforms. But it seems the Zika virus won’t derail Rio 2016. While the symptoms of the virus -- which include a rash, headaches and joint pain -aren’t severe, Zika has been linked to microcephaly in newborn badies and some cases of the muscle-weakening disease Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults.

With this in mind, more than 100 prominent doctors and professors recently wrote an open letter to the WHO urging that the Olympics be moved or

postponed “in the name of public health.”

“It is unprecedented,” Hula said of the calls to stop the Games going ahead.

“But there have been major sports events that have been moved because of concerns about health.

“The Women’s World Cup (soccer) in 2002 was moved from China over fears about the Swine flu virus. “So it has happened before, it won’t happen to the Olympics this time around.”

• The Tribune is following Team Bahamas in the build up to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and will be reporting from Brazil this summer. The ‘242 on the Road to Rio series’ will appear every Monday and Thursday.

Comments and responses to bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MOMENTUM BUILDING FOR HOSTING OF 6TH COMMONWEALTH YOUTH GAMES FROM PAGE 1E for the audience that included members of the various sporting disciplines that will be contested during the games and some students from both the primary and secondary high schools.

The Bahamas made its official bid for the games in November, 2015 to the CGA, but the LOC didn’t make the presentation until mid-January, 2016 here in New Providence. On January 29, 2016, the Bahamas was awarded the bid at the Commonwealth Games Federation meeting in Gibraltar.

Making up the CGA’s LOC, formed in February, 2016, are Wellington Miller, CGA chairman, Romell Knowles, chief executive officer and they will be assisted by Drumeco Archer, Director of Sports Timothy Munnings, and Lynden Maycock and Ifill as deputy directors.

According to Ifill, more than 1,000 athletes between the ages of 14-18 years from 71 Commonwealth countries will be coming to the Bahamas to compete in nine sporting disciplines, inclusive of athletics, swimming, rugby sevens, cycling, judo, boxing tennis, beach volleyball and beach soccer.

Ifill said they are just waiting on the final approval from the Commonwealth Games Association’s executive board, and the confirmation from the various international sporting bodies to complete the total package for the games.

In the meantime, he revealed that the LOC has identified the following venues for the games: athletics – Thomas A Robinson National Stadium; swimming – Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex; judo – Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium; cycling – on the streets of New Providence; tennis – National Tennis Center; boxing – Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium; rugby sevens – on green space being developed in the Queen Elizabeth Sports Center and beach soccer and beach volleyball – at the Bahamas Football Association’s facilities next to the Sir Sydney Poitier Bridge.

Breezes SuperClub will serve as the Games Village for the athletes, the Atlantis on Paradise Island will host the Commonwealth Games Federation’s family and the Melia Hotel will accommo-

date any additional needs.

“The IAAF World Relays is known as a single sporting discipline. The Commonwealth Games is regarded as a multi-event,” said Ifill, in making some distinctions. “The World Relays catered to senior athletes. The Commonwealth Youth Games will be catering to the best athletes within the Commonwealth.”

Facilities Ready Lynden Maycock, the managing director of the National Sports Authority, said there’s no doubt that the Bahamas has the finest facilities throughout the Caribbean region with a full service operation that works directly with the national associations and federations, international bodies and promoters to ensure that their events are staged in a high class manner.

“We are proud and Bahamian,” said Maycock of the facilities in the Queen Elizabeth Sports Center where the bulk of the activities for the games will take place.

“It is our intentions to ensure that all of the sporting facilities that fall under the NSA meet all of the international requirements for the hosting of major national and international sporting events.”

Who’s Next?

Archer said with the two word phrase - Who’s Next - as the hallmark for the CGA’s LOC. “The message that we are unveiling here is What’s Next? Who’s Next?,” he asked. “I think that speaks to the essence of who we are. We are appealing to young people, our future leaders. So Who’s Next?”

With the majority of the senior athletes starting to depart the sporting arena, Archer said they have to start preparing the next generation and the CYG will do just that as they identify the athletes will take up the mantel and represent the Bahamas at the games.

Relationships Developed Preparing to host the games, Romell Knowles said they have forged a good working relationship with the CGF and the government of the Bahamas.

“I want to say thanks to (Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture) Dr Daniel Johnson and I want to say this with all sincerity. Had it not been for Dr Johnson, these games would not have

landed in the Bahamas,” Knowles said.

“When we first approached the minister about landing these games, he was very enthusiastic and even though we were just less than a month to respond to the CGF. We needed the approval of the Prime Minister (Perry Christie) and when we first met with him, Dr Johnson took him aside and I don’t know what he told him, but the rest was history.”

When the CGF came to town, Knowles said the Prime Minister put on the “show” of his life and was able to sell the Bahamas and he gave the assurance that the games will be the best ever held.

Knowles drew an illustration as he told the story of how at age 13, someone said that he would never amount to anything in life, but he defied the odds and became the youngest president of the Bahamas Softball Federation, a vice president of the International Softball Federation, an inductee into the ISF and now the secretary general of the Bahamas Olympic Committee.

He drew the illustration to bring home the point of what the “power of sports” can do in the life of young people in the country, if they don’t take advantage of sports and what it has to offer. He also asked the question: “Who’s Next?”

CGA is prepared for the Challenge Ask Wellington Miller and he will be the first to let you know that the CGA’s LOC is all set to host the Commonwealth next year.

“This is a history making games for us, the first time a multi-youth sporting games is being hosted in the Bahamas,” he said. “This will have the largest contingent of athletes and the largest contingent of games that will be played. Everybody wants to come to the Bahamas. We have to protect this brand.

“We will have the largest press core coming to the Bahamas from the 71 Commonwealth countries. This is going to be very, very great for our country.

This sixth Commonwealth Games will put the Bahamas on the map and we will be in the history books for the manner in which we will host the games.”

Miller, however, gave a lot of credit to the government of the Bahamas for

MLB TO CONDUCT FREE SUMMER PROGRAMME

By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE partnership between the Bahamas and Major League Baseball will continue this summer with a showcase for developing prospects.

The MLB will conduct a free summer instructional programme in conjunction with the Bahamas Baseball Federation in July and August.

The group will host prospective 11th and 12th graders, July 11-23 followed by prospective 9th and 10th graders July 25-August 6.

The invite only camp will undergo a selection process in New Providence on June

12. Parents and players interested in participating in the tryouts should contact BahamasTryouts@mlb.com for more information on times, locations, and the registration process.

Last October, Rebecca Seesel, specialist in international baseball operations for the MLB, was on a fact-finding mission as the organisation looked to evaluate whether the Bahamas would be a candidate for its investment in global baseball development.

Seesel said a possible partnership would create an avenue for a myriad of opportunities for those locally invested in baseball.

The most immediate impact the MLB would look

to have is in the coaching arena.

“We believe that coaching is really fundamental and kids can only get as far as their coaches can help them get,” she said.

“In the near term, help with coaching is a real possibility. Coaching is crucially important. We have some programmes we have implemented in other countries that we think are important and there is the potential to do that here. In the longer term we have to see what fits here.”

The first programme in the series was coaching clinic last January in New Providence, featuring MLB Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar.

their endorsement and noted that without their support, it would not have been possible to obtain the rights to host the games from the CGF. Ministry of Education fully on board Representing Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Jerome Fitzgerald, Evon Wisdom, the Sports Director in the Ministry, highlighted the students present as he brought them to the front to stand with him as he made his comments, saying that the games is all about them.

“It’s not too often that the Department of Education finds a common cause with the sporting community of the Bahamas,” Wisdom said. “While it is common knowledge that the same well stream that gives drive to our sporting excellence, it can also assist in the academic excellence.

The Commonwealth youth Games is an event that takes sports and academics to the next level.”

Wisdom said they are

looking forward to the hosting of the outstanding games and will be providing their full assistance to the games secretariat.

Ministry of Sports endorsement Dr Daniel Johnson, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, said he’s a living proof of what can be achieved through the involvement of the Commonwealth, as he able to secure a scholarship and gone on to obtain five college degrees. “The Commonwealth works,” he said.

He said the Bahamas government has fully endorsed the games, which has adopted an excellent theme in “Who’s Next?”

“We are engaged now in a global conversation and what we have done here with this facility that we have here, with these bright minds that we have gathered, I tell you that we have gathered the best of the best in sports administration in the region.”

Johnson said the Bahamas is still riding high on

the claim by the first Minister of Sports, Kendal Nottage, who at the time dubbed the country “numero uno,” which does not just equate to being first on the field, first to be drafted or winning the games, but rather always ready to turn up to play and being the best that the Bahamas can be.

Having added sports to the Bahamas logo of sun, sand and sea, Johnson said four years ago when he took over as the Minister of Sports, he wanted to take the Bahamas to the level and now that the country has risen to the occasion, he too can ask the question: “What’s next?”

“Next year when the world casts it eyes on the Bahamas, we will become the first Smart Island in the world,” he said. “The world is saying that because of our size, we can’t do this and we can’t do that. We are now going to take our size and show that the world that no one can do these events better than us.”

PAGE 4, Monday, June 6, 2016

THE TRIBUNE

THE FINAL FIGHT: In what would be the last fight of his career, Muhammad Ali lost a 10-round decision to Trevor Berbick. Here are a few of the articles in The Tribune newspaper around the time of their December 1981 heavyweight fight in Nassau. Ali, the first man to win the world heavyweight title three times, died on Friday in Arizona, aged 74, after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

When Father Time stopped The Greatest IN A scabby, cinder block cell, barely bigger than a coffin, Muhammad Ali slumped in weary resignation, his chin buried in his chest, his belly rolled into layers, rising and falling with each laboured breath.

His words were whispers, as soft as the last petal on a worn rose. “Father Time,” Ali said. “He caught me.”

Ali’s wife Veronica stood at her husband’s elbow. John Travolta, the actor, tears on his cheeks, knelt worshipfully at Ali’s knee and clutched one of Ali’s idle hands. Ali’s family, through three generations, solemnly aligned themselves like mourners and peered blankly at their father, at their son, at their benefactor.

Ali’s road menagerie, that collection of sycophants and phonies, valets and pimps, cheerleaders and parasites, tugged and pushed each other for one last whiff of the aroma of celebrity.

The gravy train stopped here. Last station, everybody off.

“I feel used up,” Ali mumbled into his torso.

Outside, many of the witnesses who had chanted his name and who had believed one last lie relieved themselves against the wall.

Some primitive instinct had brought Ali here, like an old bear choosing his own place to die. Here where the ancestors of slaves and pirates refuse to do much of anything in a hurry or on time, Ali fit in perfectly. He was too slow and too late, even for the plebeian Trevor Berbick.

“I’m glad it was me who ended his career,” Berbick said. “Somebody else might not have been as compassionate.”

All that’s left is to close the lid and cover the body.

There will be no return from Ali’s final masquerade. Even Ali finally believes what sanity and the calendar should have convinced him long ago.

Ali once drank with kings, joked with despots, put nations on the map with his mere presence. His face was his passport and his fists were his holy weapons.

His magic infuriated one generation and previewed another. Ali overwhelmed his sport, his race and birthright.

Now here in a junky little country that is strung together by cruise ships, tax shelters and duty-free booze, he danced his last dance with thieves and amateurs, all for one last humiliation.

Ali is beyond pity. This last bizarre adventure puts him somewhere on the other side of scorn. He is a man who kept botching his own suicide. At the end even his friends were ready to kick

TREVOR BERBICK, right, smiles as Muhammad Ali looks at the scales during the weigh-in for their December 11, 1981, heavyweight fight in Nassau, Bahamas. Canadian champion Berbick weighed in at 214 lbs, and Ali was 236 lbs. Ali was just a few months away from his 40th birthday when, desperate to make up for his lacklustre loss the year before to Larry Holmes, went to the Bahamas for what would be his last fight. (AP)

BERNIE LINCICOMBE WAS RINGSIDE FOR THE “DRAMA IN BAHAMA” AT QUEEN ELIZABETH SPORTS CENTRE IN NASSAU ON DECEMBER 11, 1981, TO WITNESS THE END OF MUHAMMAD ALI’S BOXING CAREER. THIS EXCERPT IS FROM HIS UNFINISHED BOOK THAT COMPRISES RECOLLECTIONS ABOUT THE END OF THE CAREERS OF SPORTS ICONS WRITTEN IN REAL TIME.

RETIRED boxing champion Muhammad Ali, centre, waves alongside his wife Lonnie Ali, left, and his sister-in-law Marilyn Williams, right, after receiving the Liberty Medal during a ceremony at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, on September 13, 2012.

the chair for him.

In a bush league ballpark, the ring built over second base, Ali waddled out to meet the fists of Berbick, an amiable Jamaican by way of Nova Scotia, whose only promise was not to kill his former idol, unless by accident.

Jay Edson, a referee himself and one of the ringside judges, groaned as he marked each round of the unanimous decision for Berbick. “I wanted to give one to Ali, just one round, but I couldn’t,” Edson said.

Ali could not even count the money for this one. He was supposed to get $3.5 million, but the guy who keeps the books, a shadowy bully named James Cornelius, stiffed Berbick to the point he was ready not to fight. Berbick was promised

$300,000.

“All I got so far,” Berbick said, “is some pocket money. No letter of credit or nothing.”

Cornelius identified himself as a “businessman” but never has said aloud what business he is in. Cornelius said that Don King, promoter of many of Ali’s glories, sent four thugs to beat him up if he did not cut King in at the end.

These are the last associates of Ali, friend of world leaders, icon of an age.

“The money ain’t important,” Ali said. “I did this for me. I did it for the people who are too old or too whupped or too tired.”

And like all of them, Ali was all of that.

“This was my last fight,” Ali said. “There will be no more.”

There was only the dull fatigue of truth in his voice, not the coy hustle of other good-byes. His last hurrah was his last whimper, but even that was loud enough for Ali to hear.

“I just hope I feel the same two months from now,” he said.

In just a little more than a month, Ali will be 40.

He has been fighting, amateur and pro, for 28 years.

‘The Thrilla in Manila’, ‘the Rumble in the Jungle’, ‘Rope-a-Dope’, ‘Float Like a Butterfly’. What all of those blows have done is yet to know.

“After (Larry) Holmes, I had excuses,” Ali said.

“There are no excuses this time. I was in shape (a rubbery 236 pounds). I had 10 rounds to do what I wanted to do. I just couldn’t do it.

Before the fight, I wasn’t sure it was all over. Now I am. It is a relief to know it is over.”

Not disappointment. Re-

lief.

Now, the morning after the fight, Ali stroked his famous face, barely bruised

by Berbick’s fists and puffy from age, not from battle.

“It could have been worse,” Ali said. “I could have broken teeth or split lips. The ref could have been pulling him off me. I could have been hanging on the ropes. I could have been laying out on the ring floor.

I came out of it beautiful.”

From his pre-fight fantasy of whipping Berbick and reclaiming the heavyweight title from Mike Weaver, Ali had become grateful for survival.

“I wasn’t beaten,” he insisted. “I just couldn’t do the things I wanted to do. I am finished.”

Finished from boxing in any form?

“I’m not going to be sitting around rings talking about fights,” he said. “I won’t be hanging out in gyms an old, flat-nosed bum. Duh, duh, duh.”

Ali says he will hang around with the religious gurus of the modern world.

He will lecture on topics like “the meaning of life.”

He will use his fame to make the world a more tolerant place in which to live.

“The one good thing about me losing my last fight is that people will know I tried. When you’re too good like I was, you make people feel bad. I leave the world the lesson of humility.”

Ali humble? There can be no greater proof that The Greatest is done.

“It was a great ride wasn’t it, boys?” Ali asked the meager clutter of press there in the breezeway of an island motel, the few of us still around for his last words. “I took you all over the world.

Nobody else could do that.”

Or is likely to again.

• Bernie Lincicome is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune. This article was published in the Chicago Tribune on June 4.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, June 6, 2016, PAGE 5

Warriors whip Cavaliers 110-77 to take 2-0 lead in NBA Finals

By JANIE McCAULEY AP Sports Writer OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The repeat championship Golden State has spoken of since the very start more than eight months ago is suddenly two wins from becoming reality.

That’s the only way the Warriors’ record-setting season will feel right. They certainly look unstoppable.

Draymond Green flexed his bulging biceps with big plays on both ends of the floor all night for 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while MVP Stephen Curry scored 18 points despite foul trouble, and

Golden State thoroughly overwhelmed the Cleveland Cavaliers 110-77 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals last night.

Once the Splash Brothers found their shooting touch, Cleveland couldn’t keep up. Klay Thompson got hot after halftime to finish with 17 points and five assists as Golden State became the first team to go ahead 2-0 in the finals since the Lakers in 2009 against Orlando.

Now, the series shifts to Cleveland, and LeBron James and the Cavs must show up for Game 3 on Wednesday in front of their title-starved fans

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STANDINGS

down 2-0 to the defending champs and with forward Kevin Love dealing with a head injury.

The NBA said Love experienced dizziness early in the second half and left for the locker room to be reexamined, then was placed in the NBA’s concussion protocol. The league said he didn’t exhibit any symptoms before then, even after taking an elbow to the back of the head from Harrison Barnes in the second quarter and going down for several minutes before returning following a timeout. He made a baseline 3-pointer for the Cavs’ first basket in nearly 5½ minutes.

After a scoreless first quarter when he missed all five shots but had five assists, James scored 14 of his 19 points in the second and also finished with nine assists and eight rebounds.

James’ teams had won nine straight postseason Game 2s after losing the series opener dating back to a loss in the 2008 Eastern Conference semi-finals to Boston.

After Curry and Thompson combined for only 20 points in Thursday’s 10489 Game 1 win on 8-for27 shooting and the bench carried the load, they each hit four 3-pointers and went 13 for 24. Leandro Barbosa had three straight transition layups in the third quarter and scored 10 points for his first back-toback postseason games in double figures since 2008.

The Warriors’ 87 victories combined from their record 73-win regular season and the playoffs matched the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, the group Golden State topped for the most regular season victories in NBA history of 73.

Andrew Bogut had four blocks in the first 7:15 and received a standing ovation when he came out at 3:50 in the first then went to the locker room late in the quarter. He hit his hand on the rim early and grimaced in pain.

CAVALIERS forward LeBron James, left, shoots against Warriors guard Shaun Livingston in the first half of Game 2 of the NBA Finals last night. (AP)

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Friday, June 3rd, 2016

JUSTIN GATLIN, of the US, finishes ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Thompson, centre, and Brazil’s Vitor Hugo Santos, during the “Mano a Mano” challenge at the Quinta da Boavista in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday. Gatlin won an exhibition 100-metre race as he looks forward to the Olympics in Rio. (AP)

JUSTIN GATLIN PREPARES TO SHUT OUT DISTRACTIONS AT RIO GAMES

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Justin Gatlin admits a few years ago he would have found it difficult with the Olympics being in a place like Rio de Janeiro — with its beaches, nightlife and myriad diversions.

“When the Olympics come around, you can be distracted by the glitz, the glam,” Gatlin said. “Especially with the Olympics being in a place like Brazil, which is known to have big festivals, have festive parties and to have a great time.”

Gatlin was focused yesterday in Rio and won an exhibition 100-metre race ahead of the Olympics opening in two months.

The promotional race was run “on water,” a sprint across a 100-metre runway built over a small pond on the grounds of Brazil’s former imperial palace — known as Quinta da Boa Vista.

Gatlin ran 10.19 seconds in a light rain, off his top time this season of 9.93.

After three races in about a week Gatlin, heads back to the United States for training before the American trials in early July in Eugene, Oregon. Gatlin won 100-metre gold in 2004 in Athens and is expected to challenge Usain Bolt, who has won the 100 in the last two Olympics.

“I want to go out with a bang,” said Gatlin, who has been banned twice for doping violations. “I want it to be one of the most exciting races in track and field history. And I want not just the fans here (in Brazil), but all around the world to stand still for nine seconds and be able to watch the fastest race ever.”

Asked about running nine seconds, he laughed and repeated: “Yeah, nineflat.”

Bolt has the world record of 9.58 set in 2009.

Gatlin was asked about the Zika virus, which has its

epicenter in Brazil and has been shown to cause birth defects in babies. He said he hoped to show that “Brazil is safe, it’s a great place to come.”

He said few athletes would be deterred. “This is an Olympic dream,” he said. “It comes every four years, and sometimes as an athlete you don’t get that opportunity again.”

The World Health Organisation has told pregnant women to stay away from Zika areas, although it says the games should not be postponed, as some medical experts have urged.

Gatlin must qualify for Rio in the American trials in early July in Eugene, Oregon. Nothing is guaranteed for any American — former gold-medal winner or not.

“I don’t have that ticket yet,” he said. “My family has that ticket. They already have their tickets to Rio. The pressure is on me to be able to make sure I make the team.”