08232018 SPORTS

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SPORTS SECTION E

THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2018

JONES AND SUN OPEN PLAYOFFS TONIGHT

STEVEN Gardiner

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TREVOR Barry

BFA NAMES SQUAD FOR CONCACAF NATIONS LEAGUE QUALIFYING THE Bahamas Football Association has named the side to represent the country in qualification for the 2019 CONCACAF Nations League and essentially the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup. Team Bahamas will include Keepers: Michael Butler, Mario Johnson, Valin Bodie; Defenders: Johnathon Miller, Troy Pinder, Isiah Collie, Lesly StFleur, Jaelin Williams, Raymourne Sturrup; Midfielders: Duane Beneby, Christopher Rahming, Jordan Farquarson, Marcel Joseph, Rejohn Ene and Forwards: Ricardo mcPhee, Ethan Willie, Chadwick Russell, Terry Delancy. The side will travel to face Belize at the FFB Stadium in Belize on September 7. They will then return to the Thomas A Robinson Stadium to host Antigua and Barbuda on October 12 and Anguilla on November 18. The Bahamas will return to the road for the final match of the qualification round against Dominica at Windsor Stadium.

Matches The CONCACAF League of Nations is a new national team competition platform designed to maximise the quality, quantity and frequency of competitive matches for all 41 CONCACAF member associations. The tournament comes after a year-long development and consultation process involving the member associations and key stakeholders. The league features competition for titles and performance prizes, and will include promotion and relegation within the system of three leagues. The Confederation’s teams will also contend via the League of Nations structure for the right to play in international championships such as the Gold Cup. Additionally, the League of Nations will inform a CONCACAF ranking system that will be used as the basis for future World Cup qualifying seeding. “This is a watershed moment for CONCACAF. By focusing on football to provide all our teams with year-round, quality competition, the League of Nations platform means everyone wins,” said CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani. “This new tournament is highly beneficial to all our Member Associations and fans everywhere since it provides significant opportunities to play important competitive matches with increased regularity throughout the year.”

Wins for Gardiner and Barry in Poland

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

STEVEN Gardiner continued an outdoor season of milestone accomplishments while Trevor Barry returned to form in their latest appearances on the athletics circuit. Both Bahamian athletes took first place in their respective events yesterday at the 9th Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Meet in Chorzow, Poland. Gardiner returned from June’s injury scare to run to a virtually uncontested win in the 400m with his

First place finishes in 400m and high jump time of 44.43 secs. He finished nearly a full second ahead of Poland’s Karol Zalewski (45.32 secs) and the USA’s Christian Taylor (45.34 secs). Gardiner, the national record holder now looks ahead to the 400m at the IAAF Diamond League final, August 30 in Zurich, Switzerland where he is ranked on the list with 16 points.

Gardiner heads into the event with the second fastest time this year of 43.87 secs behind American Michael Norman, who ran 43.61 secs. In June, at the sixth stop on the Diamond League tour in Stockholm, Sweden, Gardiner came off the curve in about third place and he stumbled, attempting to get into a groove on the home

stretch. Playing it safe, he decided to ease up as he coasted through to the finish line in 23.35 secs for eighth place. As for Barry, he took first place in the high jump field with a clearing of 2.27m, a new season’s best. Jeron Robinson of the USA was second at 2.24m along with Edgar Rivera of Mexico who finished third. It was Barry’s second first-place finish in as many meets after he leaped 2.26m on August 18 in the Czech Republic. The Kamila Skolimowska Memorial

has been organised to pay homage to the late hammer thrower and Sydney Olympics champion. The first edition of the meeting was held on May 2, 2009 and, at that time, only women and men’s hammer throwing competitions were held. It was the first event hosted at the Kamila Skolimowska Warsaw Hammer-throw Centre. The Memorial returned to the athletics calendar in 2011 and has been taking place every year since then.

BAHAMIAN PLAYERS ADVANCE IN JUNIOR ITF CHAMPIONSHIPS By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

DONTE Armbrister and Sydney Clarke.

HAVING recovered from the shock of being close to an earthquake in Trinidad & Tobago, top ranked Bahamian players Sydney Clarke and Donte Armbrister advanced from their first round set of matches at the Tobago Junior ITF Championships on Wednesday. As the number one seed in the girls’ singles main draw, Clarke got a bye in the first round, but easily won her second match 6-0, 6-0 over Selene Kentish of Antigua and Barbuda. “I’m now in the quarters, so I’m looking for the same results tomorrow (Thursday),” Clarke proclaimed. “I want to have a good day by going out on the court and playing hard and getting the results that I want. So I had a good day today. I practised all of my shots and I played like I wanted to win. So there will be more good stuff tomorrow.” Clarke is also playing doubles where she is teaming up with Tangia Riley-Codrington from Barbados as the top seeded team. Their first round victims were the Trinidad & Tobago combo of

Isabel Abraham and Keesa Lee Loung, whom they beat 6-1, 6-1. “We had a good match on court. Our opponents played well. We had little ups and downs, but we played well,” Clarke said. “Overall, we hope to win the doubles for the tournament. So we will just continue pushing and try to do our best to win.” Riley-Codrington said they couldn’t ask for a better start to the tournament. “Playing with Sydney has been a wonderful experience and I really hope that we can win the tournament,” she said. “It was a very good match. Our opponents were very good. They put up a good fight, but we played our hardest.” Meanwhile, Armbrister, in his first round match in the boys’ singles, had to come from behind to pull off a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 decision over American Jakub Ostajewski. “The match was a good match. I think I played a clean match from start to finish,” Armbrister said. “I only got broken once. My opponent was good at the net, so he was giving me some trouble when he came to the net. But I rested and coming down the stretch in SEE PAGE TWO


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