SPORTS
Avian Pride conquers the Warren Seymour Classic
Bahamian chess phenom becomes first player to secure place in the Bahamas National Chess Championships
BAHAMIAN chess phenom Avian Pride is the first player to secure a place in the 2026 Bahamas National Chess Championships.
jburrows@ tribunemedia.net
BAHAMIAN chess phenom Avian Pride became the frst player to secure a place in the 2026 Bahamas National Chess Championships after winning the Warren Seymour Classic, the opening event in the Bahamas Chess Federation’s national qualifying series.
Pride fnished atop the standings with 4.5 points from fve rounds, edging a competitive feld that included several members of the Bahamas’ 2026 Chess Olympiad team.
His victory earned him the frst qualifying spot available through the federation’s championship pathway.
Candidate master Byron Small also booked his place in the national
championships after fnishing second with four points. Sohan Umesh matched Small’s total but settled for third place after tiebreaks were applied.
Olympiad team member Philip Hanna Jr claimed fourth place with 3.5 points, while William Davis rounded out the top fve with the same score.
Beyond determining the frst national championship qualifers, the tournament served as an important tune-up event for players preparing to represent The Bahamas on the international stage.
Several members of the country’s 2026 Chess Olympiad team used the competition to gain valuable over the board experience as preparations continue for upcoming international assignments.
Among those competing were Pride, Small, Hanna, woman candidate master Chika Pride and Diana
Williams, all members of the national Olympiad squad.
The event also highlighted the federation’s youth development eforts.
Avian Pride and WCM Chika Pride are the only junior players currently named to the 2026 Olympiad team.
This is a sign of the progress being made in developing young Bahamian players capable of competing at the highest level nationally.
The Warren Seymour Classic opened the Bahamas Chess Federation’s 2026 tournament calendar and marked the frst step on the road to the Bahamas National Chess Championships. Federation ofcials said the event showcased the depth of local talent while providing meaningful competition for players pursuing national titles and international representation.
Players from across Bahamas prepare to compete in Andre Rodgers National Baseball Championships
THE Bahamas Base ball Association’s premier youth event returns this week as players from across the country prepare to compete in the Andre Rodgers National Baseball Championships.
The four-day tournament, scheduled for June 18-21 in New Providence, will fea ture competition in seven divisions ranging from 6U T-Ball to 20U and provide a stage for many of the country’s top young players to showcase their abilities before national team selec tors and visiting scouts.
Bahamas Baseball Asso
ciation president Clarence “CJ” McKenzie said the championships remain an
Lyles runs world-best 14.67 seconds to win 150 metres at Golden Spike meet
OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (AP) — Olympic gold medallist Noah Lyles set the world best time in the rarely contested 150 metres at the Golden Spike meet on Tuesday. The U.S. sprinter clocked 14.67 seconds to beat a feld of runners including Australia’s teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout. Lyles, who won the 100 at the Paris Olympics and is fourtime world champion in the 200, capitalised on a fast start before using his speed to cruise to the fnish line. He beat the previous best set by Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson at 14.92 in April at Miramar, Florida. Sinesipho Dambile of South Africa placed second in 14.78 and 18-year-old Gout was third in 14.96.
Gout set the under-20 world record in the 200 — a time faster than Usain Bolt’s best at that age — in winning the open Australian title in 19.67 seconds in April. The young Australian has spent time training with Lyles and had earmarked the rarely-raced 150 as a chance to go headto-head with the champion American.
Serena and Venus to play doubles together at Wimbledon with a combined age of 90
EVEN at a combined age of 90, opponents should still be wary of facing the Williams sisters at Wimbledon.
Serena and Venus Williams won a combined 21 titles on the storied grass of the All England Club in their singles and doubles careers and now they're going for one more.
A doubles wild card invitation for the sisters was announced on Tuesday by organisers of Wimbledon, which starts in less than two weeks.
The move comes after 44-year-old Serena recently returned to competition after nearly four years away from professional tennis. Venus, who has still been competing sporadically, turned 46 yesterday.
“I think it’s going to be fun. My daughter, Olympia, told me I should play with Venus. She’s always right,” Serena said after losing a doubles match with another partner, Karolina Muchova, in Berlin on Tuesday. “So I said, “OK Olympia, we’ll see if we can do it.”
The sisters have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon — the frst of them in 2000 and the last in 2016. Their frst two doubles titles at Wimbledon, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.
In all, their records at the All England Club look like this: Seven singles titles for Serena and fve singles titles for Venus at Wimbledon; those six Wimbledon doubles titles together; a mixed doubles title for Serena with
Max Mirnyi at Wimbledon in 1998; plus a singles gold medal for Serena at the 2012 London Olympics and a doubles gold for the sisters at the same Games.
Count 'em up and it makes for 21 trophies and medals — because their powerful serves always did more damage on grass than any other surface. With their six titles, the Williams sisters share the record for most trophies as a pair in women’s doubles at Wimbledon with Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan, who won fve consecutive titles from 1919 to 1923 and a sixth in in 1925.
The Williams sisters last played doubles together at the 2022 U.S. Open, where they lost their opening match. That was the frst time they played doubles together in 4 ½ years.
In her frst competition since 2022, Serena won her doubles match with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club in London last week and then the pair had to withdraw after Mboko
‘Jazz’ and surging Yankees beat White Sox 10-5
NEW YORK (AP) — Cody Bellinger hit an early homer and fnished a triple shy of the cycle, Paul Goldschmidt homered for the third time in four games and the surging New York Yankees used another big inning to beat the Chicago White Sox 10-5 last night.
After Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart threw out ceremonial frst pitches to continue the celebration for the NBA champion New York Knicks, the Yankees won their fourth straight and for the ninth time in 13 games since losing star slugger Aaron Judge indefinitely to a fractured right rib. New York also equalled its largest lead atop the AL East by moving 3 1/2 games ahead of Tampa Bay.
Jasrado “Jazz” Chisholm Jr became the ffth Yankees player to reach double-digit homers this year when he went deep in the seventh for a 10-3 lead.
Bellinger hit a tworun homer in the frst of Anthony Kay (6-2), doubled in the third against the
left-hander and started a fve-run ffth with a single. Bellinger fnished with three hits for the ffth time this season.
Goldschmidt capped New York’s big inning with a three-run drive into the right-feld seats of reliever Tyler Davis, who entered after Sean Newcomb took a liner hit by Anthony Volpe of his left triceps. Goldschmidt's homer was his 11th, surpassing his total in 146 games last season.
José Caballero added a two-run single in the ffth and Volpe hit an RBI triple in the second.
Ali Sánchez contributed an RBI single in the second and reached base three times.
Carlos Rodón (3-2) allowed three runs and seven hits in fve innings against his former team. The lefty struck out seven and walked one.
Colson Montgomery hit a three-run homer of Rodón in the third to get the White Sox within 4-3. Montgomery also homered in the eighth for his frst career multihomer game.
Kane making most of another opportunity in captain’s 3rd World Cup with England
ARLINGTON, Texas
(AP) — Harry Kane has already made the most of another opportunity in this World Cup. Given a second penalty kick, he didn't miss. The hope now for England and its captain is this is just the start of a long run and another chance to seek a championship after bitter losses ended their last two appearances. That successful retry on a penalty kick was the frst of Kane's frst two goals as England won its World Cup opener 4-2 yesterday over Croatia, the team that knocked the Three Lions out in the 2018 semifnals.
After scoring his goals in the frst half, the second a powerful header, Kane was the frst person to jump on the back of Jude Bellingham after his tiebreaking goal early in the second half put England ahead for good. Then in the 94th minute, there was Kane in front of his own net on a set play, blocking a close-range shot by Croatia. Kane's goals pushed his World Cup total to 10 and matched the English record that Gary Lineker set playing in the 1986 and 1990 tournaments. Kane, who won the Golden Boot in 2018 in Russia by scoring six times, is the frst player from England to score multiple goals in three Cup appearances. He has 81 international goals.
injured her knee in a singles match.
At the Berlin Open on Tuesday, Serena and Muchova were beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routlife. Wimbledon starts June 29.
