SPORTS SECTION E
JAMES, Page 5
MONDAY, JULY 2, 2018
Boxing icon ‘Elisha Obed’ dies at 66 By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net he passing of Oswald ‘Elisha Obed’ Ferguson, the first and only Bahamian world boxing champion, has echoed the call for more prominent recognition to be given to the country’s iconic athletes who have excelled at the top of their sporting disciplines but were never honoured in the manner that they should have been. Elisha Obed, as he was commonly referred to, died on Thursday night at the age of 66. He began his amateur career at the age of 12 and went on to post an impressive 46-0 win-loss record with 16 knockouts before he
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turned pro two years Obed then decided later. to enter the middleDuring the beginweight ranks and by ning of his impressive age 27, he was back pro career, Elisha to where he started Obed went on to from, fighting on local capture the World fight cards in Nassau Boxing Council before he retired in (WBC) light middle1988, avenging his weight title in 1975 previous loss to James by defeating Miguel ‘Killer’ Coakley. de Oliveira. He The win also ended defended the title a four-match losing twice before losing streak. FERGUSON the belt to GermaAt the end of his ny’s Eckhard Dagge career, Elisha Obed in 1976 when he quit, claiming he compiled a 90-21-4 win-loss-draw had blurred vision. Elisha Obed record with 60 knockouts. He was stated that he had been thumped trained by Moe Fleischer and manin the eye by Dagge. Actually, he aged by Mike Dundee. was later found to have a detached While he received a British retina and is legally blind in that Empire medal in the Queen’s eye. Honours list in 1988, Elisha Obed
never got the recognition he deserved like having a prominent facility named in his honour. Wellington Miller, a long time friend and former boxer who served as the immediate past president of both the Bahamas Olympic Committee and the Bahamas Amateur Boxing Federation, agitated for either a street or the national boxing gymnasium at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex to be named after him, but to no avail. As a childhood friend, legendary track and field sprinter Michael ‘Mike’ Sands said he remembers the days when they both sold The Tribune and the Nassau Guardian newspapers. But he said it was ironic that they both went on to
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Hitmen beat Warriors 4-1 By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
THEY didn’t get a hit, but the C&S Hitmen didn’t need one as they managed to outclass the BTC Elite Warriors in a exciting 4-1 victory in the men’s feature contest of the New Providence Softball Association’s double header on Saturday night. The ladies’ opener in the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex was a different story as the Hennessy Panthers couldn’t stop the hit parade from the BTC Lady Warriors in an abbreviated 18-9 blowout. Hitmen 4, Elite Warriors 1 In what was expected to be a pitcher’s duel, Alcott Forbes suffered three hits and struck out 12 in his role for the defending champions C&S, who remain on top of the standings at 8-1. But surprisingly, Forbes and his teammates were held hitless by Jeffery Woodside, who had five strikeouts as BTC suffered another stunning loss to drop to 3-7 for third place. The difference came in the unearned runs category with the Hitmen scoring three in the bottom of the first inning to put the game out of reach. They added one more in the second and another in the sixth. Catcher Angelo Dillett scored two of their runs and pinch runner Zachary Rahming came up with
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ON THE REPLAY: Alcott Forbes in action on Saturday night as the C&S Hitmen defeated the BTC Elite Warriors 4-1 in the New Providence Softball Association men’s feature contest. Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
CCCAN: BAHAMAS STRONG IN WATER POLO AND SWIMMING By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Aquatics has delivered strong performances thus far at the XXXI CCCAN Swimming Championships, both from its water polo and swimming teams at the event in Aruba. The Under-16 Water Polo team continues their path toward Youth Pan Am qualifications and advanced to today’s gold medal match with a 10-4 win over Costa Rica last night. Team Bahamas finished the preliminary round with a 13-11 win over Trinidad and Tobago. They opened tournament play on day one with a 15-4 win over Costa Rica and a 13-8 loss to Puerto Rico. On day two they defeated El Salvador 18-11 to advance to the semis agianst T&T. This recent success comes off another milestone last month where several members of the Bahamas’ water polo programme secured roster spots with a United States-based team on their path to the National Junior Polo Olympics and a successful showing at the Sunshine State Games. For the swim team, the Bahamas’ first gold medal came on day two when Nigel Forbes swam a winning time of 2:36.00 seconds in the Boys 11-12 Breaststroke. Luke-Kennedy Thompson won the first medal of the meet with a bronze in the Boys 15-17 1500m Free. He finished third in 17:03.22 behind Juan Morales of Colombia in 16:20.43 and Graham Chatoor of Trinidad and Tobago in 16:40.51. Trent Albury was fifth in 17:22.50. The Bahamas also won silver in the 11-12 Mixed 200m Free Relay. Marvin Johnson, Keianna Moss, Devin Cuffy-Bethel and Nigel Forbes finished second in 1:50.64 behind Trinidad and Tobago who won in 1:50.29. The 13-14 team of Lamar Taylor, Delaney Mizell, Zaylie-Elizabeth Thompson and Roman Pinder also took silver in their race with a time of 1:46.78. Bermuda was first in 1:45.04.
FIBA: Bahamas to face Dominican Republic tonight By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net COACH Mario Bowleg said the men’s national basketball team is prepared to put the devastating loss to the US Virgin Islands behind them and is eagerly looking forward to closing out play tonight against the Dominican Republic on a high note in the FIBA 2019 World Cup Qualifier. The team, now down to nine players, is in Santo Domingo
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where they will take on the Dominican Republic at 8pm in the last of six games in the homeand-away series in Group D of the qualifying tournament for the 2019 World Cup in Russia. It will be the Bahamas’ second match-up against the Dominican Republic, having lost the opener 96-63 in their first match-up at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium on Thursday, February 22. Team Bahamas is coming off their 84-74 loss to the US Virgin Islands on Thursday in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a game that eliminated the country from qualifying for the World Cup. The US Virgin Islands won the opener 93-85 at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium as well on Monday, November 27. “Things are looking good. The guys are in high spirits. We watched the tape of the previous game (against the US Virgin Islands) and after reviewing the tape, we felt that the guys stuck to the game plan and we didn’t play that bad at all,” Bowleg said. “It just boiled down to the guys (US Virgin Islands) hitting some big shots in crucial shots. “We had some unnecessary turnovers
MARIO BOWLEG in crucial situations and that resulted in the final outcome of that game. But the guys are in high spirits. Right now, we are left with nine players for Monday’s
game, so we will have a challenge ahead of us, but we don’t feel it’s something that will hamper our performance.” The New Orleans Pelicans have called for Dwight Coleby to attend a tryout for their National Basketball Association’s team and he has to report there today, while Lourawls ‘Tum Tum’ Nairn has some commitments in the United States as well and won’t be able to travel to the Dominican Republic. The team will have the service of Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield, the game’s top scorer in his debut in the series of games against the US Virgin Islands on Thursday when he scored 23 points with 13 rebounds and six assists. Nairn was the only other player in double figures with 13 points. “With those left behind with Buddy Hield, we’re very confident that we will put out a good showing against the Dominican Republic,” Bowleg stated.
“We have nothing to lose. We just want to build on the previous game and hope that we can improve for the future for the federation. “The federation is going to continue to build on its foundation of trying to bring its better players together and at some point, looking at some of these other teams in our region, who are starting to diminish, we just have talent coming with Deandre Ayton and Kyle Jones and a few others who have some Bahamian heritage in them to get their documents to be able to compete for us.” Bowleg, however, said he made a promise that this will be his final game he will serve as the head coach of the national team and he will pursue the presidency of the federation when he attempts to move up from the post of first vice president when the election of officers is held during the annual general meeting in April 2019. “I want to continue on with my knowledge and wisdom of knowing how the international arena is when it comes to the
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