SPORTS SECTION E
WIMBLEDON
MONDAY, JULY 17, 2017
Federer, Page 5
Miller-Uibo cruises to victory in 400m By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
W
ith less than a month to go before the start of the IAAF World Championships, quarter-miler Shaunae Miller-Uibo continues to prove that she’s ready for the biggest showdown this year on the international scene. Miller-Uibo, who intends to go after the 200/400 metre double at the championships August 5-13 at the Olympic Stadium in London, England, ran away from a top notch field of competitors in the women’s 400m in 49.80 seconds at the IAAF Diamond League Meet in Rabat where she competed along with high jumper Donald Thomas. Her time turned out to be a new stadium record as she shattered the
previous mark of 51.05 now. What counts are that was set by her the World ChampionAmerican archrival ships.” Allyson Felix on June No doubt, Miller14, 2015. Uibo and Felix are Felix, by the way, looking to go head-tohas moved ahead of head in the marquee Miller-Uibo in postone-mile race as they ing the fastest time so have yet to face each far this year in 49.65 other since their epic in a meet in London showdown last year. on July 9. Also expected to be Miller-Uibo, who in the mix in London, upset Felix by divbut left out of the picing across the finish ture as Miller-Uibo MILLER-UIBO line to snatch the gold extended her lead comat the Olympic Games ing off the final curve last year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and onto the straight away with a had the previous best mark of 49.77 pair of Americans and Jamaicans. that she ran on May 13 in ShangNatasha Hastings (50.86) and hai, China. Quanera Haynes (51.08), carry“This is actually a training race ing the American flag in the race, for me,” Miller-Uibo said after the got second and third respectively, impressive race. “The time is good, while Novlene Mills-Williams but it is not very important for me (51.18) and fellow Jamaican Sher-
icka Jackson (51.20) were fourth and fifth. Jackson was third behind Miller-Uibo and Felix in Rio. Republic of South Africa’s Caster Semenya, the 800m specialist, attempted to try her hand at Miller-Uibo as well, but she could only muster a time of 51.53 for seventh behind American Courtney Okolo, who ran 51.33 for sixth. Miller-Uibo, 23, was just simply in a class of her own and was untouchable in the latter part of the race for her third victory in as many quartermiles she has contested this year. However, she sits in third place on the performance list behind Felix and Hayes, who did 49.72 in Sacramento, California, on June 24. On the other hand, Miller-Uibo has also produced a season’s best
SEE PAGE 3
TEAM Bahamas closed out FIBA Women’s Centrobasket yesterday with a 68-65 win over Guatemala at the UVI Arena in St Thomas, United States Virgin Islands.The Bahamas placed fifth overall. Puerto Rico advanced with a 60-58 victory over the USVI in the gold-medal game. Mexico won the bronze and was the third team to advance to AmeriCup 2017. Photo: 10thYearSeniors
Bahamas tops Guatemala 68-65 By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net AFTER a disappointing showing with four consecutive losses, the Bahamas closed out the FIBA Women’s Centrobasket 2017 with a win in their final game. Leashja Grant delivered another dominant performance with 14 points and 21 rebounds in the Bahamas’ 68-65 win over Guatemala yesterday at UVI Arena in St Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. Valerie Nesbitt finished with 12
points and five assists, Shalonda Neely added 10 points and six rebounds while team captain Phylicia Kelly chipped in with eight points. The Bahamas had their best shooting game of the tournament at 40 per cent from the field and 40 per cent from three-point range while they also limited Guatemala to just 28 per cent. Grant led the Bahamas’ dominance on the boards, winning the rebounding advantage 60-36. They also scored 36 points in the paint, a 14-point edge over Guatemala while they also outscored them by
45 in bench points. Neely scored the final four points for the Bahamas as they moved ahead in the game’s final minute. Guatemala took the lead from the free throw line (65-64) with 1:56 left in regulation. Neely grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the putback to give the Bahamas a 66-65 lead at the 1:10 mark and followed with the game’s final score, a tip-in with 30 seconds left to play. The Bahamas took an early lead in the first quarter, something that has been rare for the team throughout the tournament.
Tracey Lewis’ runner with less than 30 seconds left to play gave the Bahamas a 17-8 lead headed into the second period. Guatemala opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 17 on an Alma Lopez layup. Lashae Rolle’s baseline jumper stemmed the tide and stopped the drought for the Bahamas. Guatemala would take their first lead of the game on a Krystha Cano layup, before Rolle tied it again with another jumper and Joette Fernander’s jumper regained the
SEE PAGE 2
TUREANO TO SQUARE OFF WITH UKRAINIAN AUGUST 25 By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net WE can now add the International Boxing Federation’s middleweight contender eliminator match to an already star-studded weekend for professional boxing. According to Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez, Tureano Johnson will take on Serhiy Derevianchenko on August 25 for the right to be the No.1 contender in the division and bid to challenge for the title. The 12-round bout will take place at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma. No television deal has been announced as yet. DiBella Entertainment, the co-promoter of Derevianchenko, won the mandatory purse bid set down by the IBF for the bout. DiBella claimed the right of principal promoters with their winning bid of $121,000 and outdid the bid set forth by Johnson’s Golden Boy Promotions, who offered $62,000. There will be a 50-50 purse split between the fighters following the bout, meaning each fighter will walk away with just over $60,000. “I’m not stressed about that, I just want to fight. A legit fight with a legit opponent,” Johnson said. “Serhiy is a good fighter, good at just about everything he does. I think this is a bit of a step up in opponent.” The IBF mandated that Johnson must square off with Derevianchenko of Ukraine to determine the challenger for Gennady Golovkin’s middleweight title. Derevianchenko, 31, ranked 2nd on the IBF challenger list, is undefeated in his young professional career thus far at 10-0, with 8 KOs. His last fight was a fifth round stoppage of Kemahl Russell in March. Johnson, 33, returned to the ring in May after being sidelined for nearly a yearand-a-half with a second round knockout over Fabiano Pena. He improved to 20-1, 14 knockouts. Both fighters represented their respective countries at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The winner will then attempt to outbox the dominant Golovkin and blemish his spotless 37-0, 33KOs record. Johnson was originally intended to face Golovkin last April. However, the fight never took place for a
SEE PAGE 3
Kerrie Cartwright making her mark on ITF Women’s Circuit By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net KERRIE Cartwright, now playing on the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) Women’s Circuit, is hoping to make some inroads in singles this week after a successful showing in doubles last week in Knokke, Belgium. She won her second-round match yesterday, beating Jessica Bertoldo of Italy, 6-4, 7-5. She will play Dana Kuczer of Poland today to get into the main draw. Last week at the Knokke Zoute Ladies Open 2017 at the Royal Zoute Tennis Club in Knoffe, Belgium, Cartwright and her American partner, Kariann PierreLouise lost 7-5, 2-6 (10-7) in the semi-final of doubles to Leonie Kung of Switzerland and Axana Mareen of Belgium. Cartwright and Pierre-Louise
won their quarter-final match 6-3, 6-3 to the team of Michaela Boev and Deborah Kerfs, the No.2 ranked team from Belgium. In the first round, the Bahamian-American duo won 6-4, 6-2 over the French combo of Brandy Mina and Mallaurie Noel. After getting a bye, Cartwright played her first match in singles last week, losing 6-1, 6-3 to Margot De Pre from Belgium. This week, Cartwright is playing in the Iris Ladies Trophy in Belgium where she won her first round match in the qualifying round with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 decision over Juliette Loliee from France. Cartwright, having completed her collegiate eligibility at Florida State two years ago, is eager to see where her professional career will take her as she will play both singles and doubles again this week in her fifth tournament for her first full season on the tour this
KERRIE CARTWRIGHT year. She started in June in Bethany Beach, Delray, Florida where she lost in the third round in the qualifying for the main draw and her partner, American Shelby Talcott, got eliminated in the first round of main draw play in doubles. That was followed by another appearance in the United States where she played in Sumter, South
Carolina in June as well, losing in the first round of the qualifying draw in singles. From there, she began her journey overseas in Victoria, British Colombia, Canada with another first round loss in singles, while her and Talcott got ousted in the first round of the main draw doubles. Cartwright then headed to Middelburg, Netherlands at the beginning of the month where she lost in the second round of the qualifying draw in singles and in doubles, she and Pierre-Louise were eliminated in the first round of the main draw in doubles. She will be in Europe for the remainder of the summer, playing just about every week as she continues to pile up her stock. “I made semi-finals in doubles and so it gave me a lot of confidence going into singles and doubles,” said Cartwright about her transition from last week’s tour-
nament to this year’s tournament. “So I think that helped a lot.” The 25-year-old, who has taken her career further than her parents Kim O’Kelly and Sean Cartwright, said the atmosphere in Europe is one that she’s making the most out of before she returns to the United States. “I like it a lot. I’m getting a lot of experience over here,” she said. “I haven’t played over here in a while, so it’s been good so far. It’s a different culture and stuff, so I’m just enjoying the journey and the process and everything that comes along with it.” If there’s anything that she can work on as she plays more on the tour, Cartwright said it’s getting her balls to drop “deeper on the court and staying focused. My service percentage also needs to improve.” It’s an adjustment that she feels she can make.