09262022 NEWS AND SPORT

FNM blasts Davis for failed promises that led to ‘blacklisting’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis signed three letters promising the European Union that The Bahamas would address - within the required dead line - the concerns that have resulted in the country’s imminent ‘blacklisting’.

Mr Davis signed three separate letters over a six-week period between December 15, 2021, and Jan uary 26, 2022, pledging The

Bahamas will resolve the 27-nation bloc’s issues over “economic substance” and tax reporting. This comes amid accusations yester day by the Opposition and others that the government “dropped the ball” over a “blacklisting” that was both avoidable and foreseeable.

The Davis administra tion’s promises are detailed in a February 2, 2022, report by the Code of Conduct Group to the EU Council’s general secretariat.

WARNING OVER DANGERS AFFECTING THE BAHAMAS

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

IN his address at the 77th United Nations Gen eral Assembly on Saturday, Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis highlighted such ongoing challenges facing The Bahamas as the impact of climate change, irregular migration and the

By LEANDRA ROLLE Staff

LONG Island MP Adrian Gibson pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of cor ruption while serving as executive chairman of the Water and Sewerage Cor poration under a former administration.

The politician is accused of enriching himself by over $1.25m through a series of illicit cheques and contracts to Elite Maintenance and Baha Maintenance and Restoration by WSC. Prosecutors allege he

gained the money through bribery and then laundered it through the purchase of prop erties and vehicles, including those used in Gibson’s Rental Company in Long Island.

He is further accused of failing to declare his inter est in the WSC contracts awarded to the companies.

However, Gibson denied the allegations during his arraignment before Senior Justice Bernard Turner in the Supreme Court.

TEENAGE ROBBERY SUSPECT SHOT DEAD BY POLICE

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting @ tribunemedia.net

A TEENAGER alleg edly involved in an armed robbery was fatally shot on Saturday after pulling a gun on officers, according to police. Shortly after 3pm on Saturday, police offic ers attached to Operation Ceasefire responded to a call about an armed robbery in the area of Rob inson Road.

As officers neared Miami Street off Robinson Road, they spotted the vehicle allegedly involved in the armed robbery. Two men were inside. After attempt ing to stop the vehicle, the driver sped off toward Washington Street, near Cordeaux Avenue. There, police shot and wounded one of the men after he got out of the vehicle, produced a firearm and “engaged the officers”, said police.

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Feed ing Network has expressed concern about the recent rise in hunger, calling it a “crisis” to which all Baha mians must pay attention.

“It’s sad and shocking to see the extent of this issue in The Bahamas,” Mario Carey, director of BFN, said. “This is a crisis that isn’t being adequately addressed. How is it that in The Bahamas so many people go hungry every day and it’s such a struggle to feed them?”

long-standing problem of gun trafficking to the country. He told world lead ers that some of these issues are not just limited to The Bahamas, but are being experienced in other regional countries and pledged his administration’s support of multilateral efforts to tackle the shared challenges of our time.

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis addressing the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday at UN headquarters in New York.

Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP

TROPICAL STORM IAN STRENGTHENS AS IT HEADS TO CUBA, FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE, Florida Associated Press

AUTHORITIES and residents in Florida were keeping a cautious eye on Tropical Storm Ian as it rumbled ominously through the Caribbean last nigth, likely to become a major hurricane on its path toward the state.

Gov Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency throughout Flor ida and urged residents to prepare for the storm to lash large swaths of the state with heavy rains, high winds and rising seas.

Forecasters are still unsure of exactly where Ian could make

landfall, with current models plot ting it toward Florida’s west coast or panhandle regions, he said.

“We’re going to keep monitor ing the track of this storm. But it really is important to stress the degree of uncertainty that still exists,” DeSantis said at a news conference yesterday, cautioning that “even if you’re not neces sarily right in the eye of the path of the storm, there’s going to be pretty broad impacts throughout the state”.

The National Hurricane Center said Ian is expected to become a hurricane today and reach major hurricane strength tomorrow.

Mother Pratt foundation gives 35,000 pairs of shoes to ministry

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Cynthia Mother Pratt Foundation with help from supporters donated more than 35,000 pairs of footwear on Friday to the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development for both New Providence and Grand Bahama.

Based on continued support and generous donations from Ron and Dianne Cacciatore of the Broward County School Board in Fort Lauderdale, former deputy prime min ister Cynthia “Mother” Pratt donated 16,000 pairs of shoes to Social Ser vices on Friday and 22,000 pairs earmarked for Grand Bahama.

The presentation was made at the foundation’s current base outside of Mother Pratt’s church, Prayer and Praise Assem bly at Ragged Island Street.

As Mother Pratt pre sented the donation to Social Services Minister Obie Wilchcombe, she expressed her appreciation

for the donations, which would be helping many persons still in dire need, especially due to Hurricane Dorian and the pandemic.

“I wanted to present these to the minister, because I know the need in the Family Islands, particu larly today, after COVID,” she said. “And so I believe that in sending these things, we can help so many, so many of these people who

are in dire straits.”

The former MP said the public should be mindful that even the government needs help.

“What is important is that we work as a team to help because the govern ment alone cannot afford all of the expenses. And Mr Wilchcombe is an excel lent minister. He keeps us abreast of everything. And he talks about the need for

us to partner so that we can help one another,” she said.

Mr Wilchcombe echoed Mother Pratt’s sentiments, saying the foundation’s donation would save many. He also expressed his gratitude for Mother Pratt’s continued acts of benevolence.

“I want to thank her so much for this, because whilst we might be living pretty good, there are

many in our country who are not. There are many in our country, particularly in areas that were affected by Hurricane Dorian and the pandemic who are still hurt ing today,” he said.

“There’s so many of our people who need food,” the minister also said. “So many of our people who need shelter, and our ministry in partnership with organisa tions like the Mother Pratt Foundation, and the friends from abroad, are seeking to bring relief. The bottom line is we are seeking to wipe the tears from every eye and it doesn’t matter who or where they are. We’re searching them out. And we will.”

He said his ministry has also been discussing further partnership with Mother Pratt’s Foundation, to launch the mentorship programme for adolescents and adults. The programme will be based at Pat’s Senior Citizens Home on Soldier Road.

“This is gonna be a fan tastic programme. We hope to launch very soon. We have issues with young men, we have issues with

young women in our coun try, we have issues generally with causing our children to have the wherewithal to be able to exist or coexist in this world community,” Mr Wilchcombe said.

Dr Glen Beneby, former chief medical officer at the Ministry of Health and Wellness, who is working with Mother Pratt for the mentorship programme for adolescents and adults, said that he is currently speaking with Mr Wilchcombe to get approval to operate within Urban Renewal Centres and affect change for young Bahamian men and women.

“We are encouraged by the support that has been given as far as the reception of the programme. The pro gramme will be offered in the urban renewal centres, and with all young people across the country, once we have the official approval of the minister, but at the moment, we are very pleased that he’s talking with us. And we’re encour aged that the way ahead looks very bright,” he said.

Though the Cynthia Mother Pratt Foundation was officially established in December 2017 as a non-profit organisation, the foundation has been in operation for more than ten years to help those in need, especially those living in the inner-city.

Since then, the founda tion has donated numerous resources and supported many Bahamians in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian and the pandemic.

Over the last five years, the Cacciatores, who are loyal supporters of the foundation, have sent thou sands of books and other school supplies, used house hold furniture, clothes, shoes and other resources.

Mother Pratt saw to it that these resources also benefited families, schools and churches in Grand Bahama, Abaco, Cat Island, Andros, Acklins, Mayaguana, and the other Family Islands.

CYNTHIA “Mother” Pratt alongside Social Services Minister Obie Wilchcombe, left, and Dr Glen Beneby as 35,000 pairs of footwear were donated to the ministry. Photo: Moise Amisial

Warning over dangers affecting The Bahamas

“When my neighbours are in crisis, whether the cause is climate, or crime, or instability, The Bahamas is impacted by the humani tarian and security needs which arise,” Mr Davis said.

“We repeat once again our opposition to the dec ades-long embargo and sanctions on Cuba. COVID has exacerbated the situa tion for the people of Cuba, and made existing hard ship and deprivation much worse.

“The people of Haiti con tinue to suffer. The political vacuum left after the assas sination of the president just over a year ago has led to more violence – with the instability fueling more tragedy and threatening the entire region.”

While noting that migra tion is not the only regional problem with which The Bahamas is faced, Mr Davis also lamented the issue of

gun smuggling. This comes as the nation continues to see an increase in homi cides, with more than 90 murders recorded so far this year.

NEGOTIATIONS ‘MOVING TOWARD SUCCESSFUL GRAND LUCAYAN DEAL’

By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net

LUCAYAN Renewal Holdings Limited said Friday that negotiations surrounding the sale of the Grand Lucayan in Grand Bahama are progressing towards a successful deal.

Lucayan Renewal Hold ings Limited (LRHL) had previously granted a sevenday extension to September 22 to the resort’s prospec tive purchaser.

The board of LRHL noted that the seven-day extension did not affect the agreed November closing date.

Initially, it was announced in the first week

of August in a joint state ment with Electra America Hospitality Group that the due diligence period was extended by 45 days to Sep tember 15.

As a result of the 45-day extension, the final date was also extended to November 15, 2022.

In August, Grand Lucayan’s chairman Julian Russell told Tribune Busi ness he was very confident that the resort’s $100m sale to Electra America Hospitality Group would ultimately close with both sides agreeing that more time is needed to complete “due diligence” and all the required legal documents.

“The board of LRHL

remains committed to ensuring that a credible plan and shared vision for the resort is realised – a plan that will provide jobs, entrepreneurial opportuni ties and strengthen Grand Bahama’s economy,” the statement released Friday said.

“We remain on track for a successful purchase and signing of a Heads of Agreement, in the best interests of the people of Grand Bahama.

“There are matters con nected to the transaction that are still being negoti ated; we look forward to briefing the public as soon as negotiations are con cluded,” the statement said.

‘CONFIDENT’ OVER MEETING TEACHER SHORTAGE

By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION direc tor Marcellus Taylor said officials are confident that they will be able to tackle the shortage of teachers in Abaco amid concerns over the issue.

Parents whose children attend Sherlin C Bootle High School and Pat rick J Bethel High School have recently shared their aggravation over a lack of teachers in the class rooms for certain academic departments.

Mr Taylor spoke to reporters about the short age on the sidelines of a recent event, noting that the ministry was actively working to resolve the issue being found particularly in Abaco schools.

“We’re confident that in a week or two, we will have, you know, all of the mat ters resolved in terms of the complement of staff that we are prepared to dispatch

to Patrick Bethel and also Sherlin Bootle,” he said during a recent interview.

He explained that cur rently the ministry has deployed 25 teachers to Abaco who are on the ground at Patrick J Bethel High School. However, Mr Taylor said the ministry intends to add substitute teachers where they can until they are able to com plete the process of getting permanent teachers within the schools.

Mr Taylor added: “So there are a few classes that are not covered. What we intend to do is to engage supply teachers where we can, until we could get some of our permanent teachers in. Getting the permanent teachers is a process.

“Until such time as we can get the permanent teachers in, we’re using supply teachers, and we’re also using our virtual plat form in order to support instruction. We’ve also sent in one of our system

directors who has done extensive work with them, ensuring that we redesigned the school-based timeta ble, so that we could get the maximum use out of the teachers. And so that exercise is nearing its com pletion. And having gone through that exercise, we were able to make some adjustments to the time table that permits more students to get instruction.”

He stressed that the chal lenge of teacher shortages will be around for a while and underscored that there is a “global teacher short age” happening.

He explained that in the case of Abaco, the hous ing crisis adds to the issue, with there being concerns of where teachers can even find places to live.

He said on Thursday: “We’re doing our best and we believe that with the combination of things that we’re doing, students will get a proper range of sub jects and they will be okay.”

WILSON RE-ELECTED AS UNION LEADER

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

BELINDA Wilson has unofficially been re-elected president of the Bahamas Union of Teachers.

The elections were held Thursday and the unofficial results came late that night revealing that Mrs Wilson’s team appeared to have taken 13 of the 15 positions that were contested.

She told The Tribune at the time that she intended to make this three-year term her last time occupy ing the office.

“I feel honoured that the members re-elected me as their president and I will continue to serve

them to the best of my ability,” Mrs Wilson said in a brief interview. “What I’m also pleased about, thus far, is the executive committee has 15 posi tions and the unofficial result at this point my A team may have 13 of those 15 positions. We want to wait for the certificate and the certification of the election.”

Recently, the govern ment and the Bahamas Union of Teachers signed an industrial agreement that included salary and increment increases as well as expanded health insur ance coverage for union members.

believe more manageable and effective efforts can be made at the source, to ensure that a right to bear arms does not so quickly and easily translate into a right to traffic arms.”

Meanwhile, on the issue of climate change, the prime minister repeated his calls for more to be done to address the environmental crisis.

He reminded leaders that the first UN climate confer ence was held in 1992 but noted that “despite dec ades of conferences and meetings featuring warn ings from scientists and experts,” one sixth of the world’s carbon emissions occurred between 2010 and 2020.

Mr Davis asked: “Why should small island nations like mine – we who have contributed so little to the climate crisis – experience the biggest burdens and risks of a changing climate?

The argument might be straightforward – but it has

not been effective.”

With a little over a month left until COP27 — the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference — Mr Davis urged world leaders: “Let this be the year that we turn talk into action.”

He continued: “Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work. Let those who pledge, write the cheque. Countries like mine, already trapped by billions in climate debt, need funding to transition to renewable energy infra structures. We have begun to install solar microgrids across our islands, but scal ing-up will require a lot of additional funding. We in The Bahamas are playing our part.”

He also invited those with potential techno logical solutions to bring their innovations to The Bahamas, saying his administration is actively “defining ways to protect and safeguard our shal low seas, mangroves and seagrasses.”

ADRIAN GIBSON: ‘I’M NOT GUILTY’

from page one

His co-accused - Elwood Donaldson Jr, WSC’s former general manager; Gibson’s cousin, Rashae Gibson; the MP’s former campaign manager Joan Knowles; Peaches Farqu harson and Jerome Missick - also pleaded not guilty to charges in connection with the allegations.

Together, the group faced a combined 98 charges, ranging from conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, fraud, receiving and money laundering.

Tanya Demeritte, who

was also charged in connec tion with the case, has since taken a plea deal.

She is expected to testify for the prosecution as a part of that immunity deal.

Donaldson is represented by attorneys Donald Saun ders and Ian Cargill, while Farquharson is represented by Raphael Moxey. Rashae Gibson has retained Bryan Dorsett.

Meanwhile, Gibson, Knowles and Missick are all being represented by Murrio Ducille, KC.

When asked about poten tial conflict of interest because of his representa tion of three of the accused,

Ducille replied that there would be none.

Crown prosecutor Ver nall Collie also said he did not anticipate that there would be a conflict.

Justice Turner is not expected to preside over the case. He told the court that he planned to assign the case to Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson for trial; however, this was not wellreceived by Mr Ducille who said he would prefer another court.

The defendants and their attorneys will return to court September 26 for a hearing and also the issue of bail conditions in chambers.

“We do not manufacture guns in our country, and yet they illegally find their way to The Bahamas, and within days, can be connected to some criminal activity,” Mr Davis added.

“In an archipelagic nation, made up of some 700 islands and cays, and ranged across 100,000 square miles of water, defending our borders is an expensive challenge. We

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis addressing the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday at UN headquarters. Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP

BAHAMAS Union of Teachers president Belinda Wilson.

Food network warns of a hunger crisis

Bishop Walter Hanchell, founder and president of Great Commission Ministries, said that he is con cerned about the recent need in Bahamian communities, as this has often been greater than the resources that his organisation has on hand.

BFN has supported Great Commission Ministries for nearly ten years along with supporting nearly 100 other feeding centres.

“Every day you see it. And we are seeing more middle-class people who are now struggling,” he said.

Bishop Hanchell said he hopes to see more sup port from private citizens,

local businesses as well as the government to support feeding programmes.

“We help as many as we can, but, of course, we have limited resources. We are going to be asking a lot of corporate Bahamas, and the government and pri vate citizens to make that happen,” he said.

Bishop Hanchell added: “In November we celebrate 35 years of nonstop minis try and we thank God for the Bahamas Feeding Net work and all that they have done to support us over the years. They have been a tre mendous blessing. It’s not been an easy road but the Lord has been with us.”

He said Great Commis sion Ministries also plans

to address the issue of homelessness through the construction of a 100-bed shelter next year.

BFN executive director Archdeacon James Pala cious said the network spends over $120,000 on its monthly efforts and a generous patron, who has been covering the rent of the BFN facility also helps to ensure that just a small percentage of donations goes towards administra tion costs.

Archdeacon Palacious said while he is grateful for any support, more is still needed.

“It’s concerning to see the extent of the need in our country. This is beatable. We can beat this if people buy

RISE PROGRAMME TO BE LAUNCHED TO HELP THOSE IN NEED

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

SOCIAL Services Min ister Obie Wilchcombe announced on Friday that the RISE programme will be formally launched next month to further strengthen the ministry’s social assis tance programme that has a budget of $21m.

Mr Wilchcombe said the social safety net benefits the assistance programme that has been success fully supporting residents with resources amount ing from about $15,000 to $21,000 a month, since the 10 percent increase of the budget last month.

“(It’s been) doing pretty good,” he told reporters following a donation to his ministry by the Cynthia Mother Pratt Foundation. “It started last month. We’ll continue it’s ten percent across the board, for all the systems, whether it’s food and shelter, whether

it’s health, whether it’s a burial, we provide assis tance across the board. It’s going well, but more is still needed.

“I think we were budg eted $21m for the year. So on average, how much you get, I guess you say it fluctu ates. But on average, what’s spent was about $15,000. Sometimes it was $21,000. It all depends. For some months, interestingly, more people are in need and some months, they’re not,” he said.

Mr Wilchcombe said the RISE programme’s assis tance to clients each month is also aiming to include job search assistance in an effort to help more Baha mians become independent.

“What the RISE programme does is it incor porates. How do we take you from being dependent to become an independent? The programme looks at how do we cause the chil dren to want to be more in

school and to benefit more from their education?”

He added: “How do we cause children to under stand the importance of health care, and also very important is the programme that we’re instituting now is ensuring that when people come in for assistance, we register them. We then plan to find job assistance. We then want to put them in a place where they’re able to work,” he said.

Mr Wilchcombe first announced the plan in July to increase the rates of financial assistance given through the com munity support services division by 10 percent of the Department of Social Services effective this month.

This increase was made in response to the increasing financial challenges faced by Bahamians across the country due to increased prices, an insufficient mini mum wage and inflation.

into it and everyone makes a contribution,” he said.

He said the demand BFN is facing has remained con sistently high, particularly as Bahamians continue to struggle with the increased cost of living and high unemployment rates.

“And at the Bahamas Feeding Network, we do all we can to provide assis tance, but the demand is great and ceaseless. We deeply appreciate and ask for the continued support of the business community and the public at large to be able to carry on our work in these difficult times,” said Archdeacon Palacious.

These remarks come just days ahead of the BFN’s inaugural golf tournament,

‘Tee Off for Hunger’ which BFN hopes will raise funds to provide more than 50,000 meals in the fight against hunger.

In recent months, BFN has been providing more than 70,000 meals per month to the most vulner able in The Bahamas. And Archdeacon Palacious said the hunger problem in the country continues to be a dire one.

Great Commission Min istries provides hot meals to roughly 500 people each day, in addition to distrib uting meals to the sick and shut-in, as well as the provi sion of grocery packages to struggling families.

On Friday, Social Services and Urban Development

Minister Obie Wilchcombe announced that the gov ernment’s social assistance programme, now with a budgeted $21 million, will be joined by the RISE pro gramme next month.

“There are many in our country, particularly in areas that were affected by Hurricane Dorian and the pandemic who are still hurt ing today,” Mr Wilchcombe said.

“There’s so many of our people who need food. So many of our people need shelter. The bottom line is we are seeking to wipe the tears from every eye and it doesn’t matter who or where they are. We’re searching them out. And we will.”

THE NEW Covenant Baptist Church anniversary service held at the weekend, with attendees including Acting Prime Minister Glenys Hanna Martin, top, and FNM leader Michael Pintard and chairman Shanendon Cartwright.

Photos: Austin Fernander

Teenage robbery suspect shot dead by police

Shortly after the shoot ing, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrived and confirmed the man, said to be in his late teens, had died.

Police said they recov ered a firearm with ammunition from the body.

Chief Superinten dent Chrislyn Skippings expressed a few words of “caution” to criminals who continue to behave lawlessly.

“I send a word of woe and caution to the criminals, put the guns down, turn the guns in,” she said at the scene on Saturday. “Let’s bring our country back to a state where everybody can enjoy this peaceful country that we so much love. The

police remain firm, we will be resolute and we continue to preserve this country for the good citizens of it.”

She said: “Those persons who seek to engage in crim inal activity, those who seek to engage police, the police will protect the good citi zens and the police officers

will protect themselves, as they too have families that they have to go home to.”

CSP Skippings added: “So I encourage those who engage in lawless behaviour to seek ways to prevent those behaviours, because as a law enforce ment agency, we’re going to

do just what it is that we’re going to do.”

In August, Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander said officers have “the right to do what they have to do” when confronted with armed people who put their lives in danger.

He added that the police are not “in the business” of letting off “warning shots” in these situations.

Saturday’s incident was the fourth fatal shooting involving a police officer this year, according to this newspaper’s records.

In late August, police said a man was shot and killed when he produced a handgun and engaged the officers. At the time, police said officers from Operation Ceasefire responded to information

ESCAPED MAN IS BACK IN CUSTODY

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A 25-YEAR-OLD man, who escaped from custody after he was sentenced to prison on Friday, was cap tured by authorities yesterday.

London Rahming led police on a two-day hunt after his escape from the Magistrate’s Court on Friday. His escape from police came after he was sentenced to 15 months behind bars for violating the conditions of his bail.

He was granted bail by the Supreme Court ear lier this year after he was charged with several counts of attempted murder in connection with a drive-by shooting that was allegedly captured on video.

However, the 25-year-old breached the conditions of his release on September 21 when he deliberately removed an electronic mon itoring device from his body.

He also admitted to dam aging the device, valued at $842, during his hearing before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans on Friday and was subse quently sentenced to 15 months behind bars.

Hours after Rahming was convicted, police released a wanted poster of him, saying he had escaped from lawful custody. He was described as having a dark brown complexion and being of medium build.

But on Sunday, police cap tured him in the Hampton Street area off Mount Royal Avenue shortly after 1pm. Sources at the court were unable to say how Rah ming had left the judicial complex.

When contacted about the matter yesterday, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe was also unable to say what exactly happened. “I have not received a report on how he escaped custody. The only thing I have heard unofficially is that he ran out of court but whether he was already in custody or

was to be put in custody, I have no information on that aspect,” Mr Munroe said.

This incident comes less than a month after a Jamai can man escaped from the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Winston Walker was on remand at the correc tional facility on charges of attempted murder, armed robbery and attempted armed robbery when he left the prison. Walker was not able to evade authorities for long as he was captured a day after his escape.

This is not the first time that a prisoner escaped cus tody. In January 2019, then Minister of National Security Marvin Dames confirmed a prisoner had escaped BDCS. The man, whose identity was not released at the time, was quickly captured.

And in August 2018, an armed robbery convict was sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to a thwarted escape plot.

Over a two-month period the man, Mario Taylor, 36, used steel from a bathroom to cut a hole in his cell’s ceiling. He was sentenced to three years for attempted escape and two years for causing damage to the

prison.

In January 2006, a small group of prisoners carried out a deadly escape at Her Majesty’s Prison, as the facility was then known, that left one prison officer and an inmate dead.

Convicted murderer Forrester Bowe staged an escape from the max imum-security wing with convicted rapist Barry Parcoi, convicted murderer Neil Brown and convicted armed robber Corey Hep burn around 4am on January 17, 2006.

Brown was shot dead during attempts to recap ture him.

Bowe and Parcoi were injured during the inci dent as well, but they were quickly captured by authorities.

Hepburn escaped and led police on a two-week hunt before he was recaptured in an apartment building in Coral Harbour.

The men were later found by the coroner in May 2006 to be jointly responsible for the killing of 13-year prison veteran Corporal Dion Bowles during their breakout.

Bowe was found dead in his cell in October 2014.

JUNKANOO GROUPS EAGER FOR RETURN

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

AFTER a two-year hiatus, Junkanoo groups anticipate the return of this year’s Boxing Day and New Year’s Day parades.

Earlier this month, the government granted $928,500 in seed funding to Junkanoo groups for them to make a comeback on Bay Street.

This comes three years after category A-groups Music Makers and Prodi gal Sons made the decision to scrap participation in the 2019 New Year’s Day Jun kanoo parade saying seed funding from the govern ment at the time was simply insufficient and forced their choice to sit out.

Public relations director of the Saxons Superstars said the group is grateful for the sponsorship from the government, however more funding is always needed.

“Junkanoo is an extremely expensive com modity that we take up in terms of our crafting,”

Kenvenique Campbell told this newspaper Friday. “So, there’s never enough money for Junkanoo, as it is the greatest show on earth and for that alone, we need more resources, whether it’s civic organisations, or whether it’s a government, there will always be a need for more funding.”

Ms Campbell added that additional funding would allow Junkanoo to “flour ish” and “expand”.

When asked by The Trib une what are the Saxon Superstars expectations for the upcoming parades, the public relation’s direc tor said the group is prepared to “dominate both parades”.

“This is the expectation. The expectation is that the world-famous Saxons Superstars are going to dominate both parades - that’s music, that’s choreo graphed dance.

“We are ready. We are the champions. You have to be real. When you come to Bay Street, y’all have to beat us.”

Ms Campbell says

preparation for the upcom ing parades is ongoing, as they returned to the shacks almost three months ago.

Meanwhile, the Prodigal Sons is facing challenges, however the group is taking the necessary steps to begin preparation.

According to group leader Eric Knowles, they are actively making repairs to their facility.

Mr Knowles said: “In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been in the process of repairing our facilities. We had some roof leaks and stuff like that we are trying to get sorted out from the last hurricane.

“We are putting up the

other portion of our build ing, which will give us another 40 plus feet of space. So, once we are able to secure that space, we will be able to kick into another gear of preparation in terms of costuming and stuff like that.”

Mr Knowles said the $30,000 seed fund ing received from the government is a “good start”, however, much more money is required.

He underscored his hope that the group will do well in both parades.

The Boxing Day and New Year’s parades were put on hold in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

about people with illegal handguns on a property on Miami Street, between Cordeaux and Balfour Avenues. A man was found on the property and shot by a police officer when he produced a handgun and engaged officers on the scene, police said.

In April, a man wearing a bulletproof vest was shot by police when they responded to an armed robbery after 1am in the area of Delancey Street.

In January, a police officer shot and killed a Royal Bahamas Defence Force officer who allegedly “charged” at him and tried to disarm him.

Last year, 21 policeinvolved shootings were recorded, of which 13 were fatal. The Tribune had

previously reported that The Bahamas has one of the highest per capita rates of police involved killings in the world, with 11 recorded in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

Two years ago, a backlog of Coroner’s Court inquests into police involved shoot ings caused concern. The hearings were ini tially delayed because of COVID-19 in 2020. Later, former Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez was sworn in as a Supreme Court jus tice, causing further delays as officials waited to replace her.

Currently, as of Septem ber 2021, Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux is the acting coroner.

Meanwhile investigations into Saturday’s incident are being led by the acting cor oner and are continuing.

POLICE SEEKING SIX SUSPECTS IN ARMED ROBBERIES

POLICE are looking for six men they suspect to be behind four separate armed robberies that occurred on Saturday.

The first incident occurred shortly before 3pm at a business on Rob inson Road. Initial reports indicate that a lone gunman entered the place and demanded cash. The sus pect allegedly robbed the establishment of an undis closed amount of cash and fled the scene in a black Honda Fit with no licence plates attached.

The second incident took place after 7.30pm in the area of East Bay Street. Preliminary reports reveal that two men entered the estab lishment allegedly armed with handguns. One of the suspects approached the cashier and demanded cash while the other stood guard by the door. The sus pects robbed the business of an undisclosed amount of cash before fleeing on foot in a westerly direction towards Potter’s Cay.

The third incident hap pened shortly after 8pm at a convenience store in the area of Carmichael Road. According to initial reports, a gunman entered the establishment and demanded cash. The assail ant robbed the store of an undisclosed amount of cash and fled the scene in a black Nissan Cube with no rear licence plates attached.

The fourth incident report edly occurred shortly after 11pm in the area of Fort Charlotte. Preliminary reports indicate that a man and woman were in the area of the parking lot on Fort Charlotte when they were accosted by two male gunmen.

One of the suspects assaulted the male victim

in his head before robbing the pair of their Ford truck. The suspects fled the area in a westerly direction on West Bay Street.

In other crime news, police reported that they confiscated marijuana and a marijuana plant on Friday. Shortly before 11.30pm, officers executed a search warrant at a residence located on Wilton Street where they discovered $2,000 worth of drugs at the back of the property.

In the second incident, shortly after 11.30pm, officers acting on intelli gence, went to a vacant lot on Acklins Street where they discovered a large marijuana plant. No arrests were made in connection with these discoveries. Active police investigations continue.

• Police said they are investigating an attempted suicide after an Ameri can visitor reportedly overdosed on medication at a West Bay Street resort on Saturday.

Shortly before 10pm, police responded to reports of a caucasian woman who ingested an excessive amount of medication in an attempt to commit suicide at the local resort.

EMS personnel were summoned and rendered medical assistance.

The tourist is being moni tored, police said and an investigation is ongoing.

Police appealed to members of the public to help those who may be in crisis by paying special attention to the follow ing warning signs: feeling a sense of hopelessness, increased use of alcohol and drugs, engaging in reck less or risky behaviour and/ or sudden withdrawal or isolation from family and friends.

THE SCENE of Saturday’s shooting. Photo: Austin Fernander

LONDON RAHMING

Many voices with one call over climate change

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis stood in front of one of the big gest international political stages of all on Saturday – the 77th United Nations General Assembly.

In this column last week, we recounted his previous calls for action on climate change – and those of his predecessors – and encouraged him to keep using his voice on the subject.

Not that he needed our encourage ment, we are sure, it was likely top of his agenda when it came to writing his speech.

And speak up he did, taking larger nations to task for the lack of action amid all the talk about the need for change.

He said: “Why should small island nations like mine – we who have con tributed so little to the climate crisis – experience the biggest burdens and risks of a changing climate? The argu ment might be straightforward – but it has not been effective.”

He added: “Let this be the year that we turn talk into action. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work. Let those who pledge, write the cheque. Countries like mine, already trapped by billions in cli mate debt, need funding to transition to renewable energy infrastructures.”

He spoke of the need for The Baha mas to install “solar microgrids across our islands” – admittedly, a topic with bad timing given the struggles for power supply in Ragged Island last week. He added that we would “require a lot of additional funding. We in The Baha mas are playing our part”.

In this column, we have also spoken of the need for the government to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk –and there is progress in that area, with the launch of a new coastal management programme last week to build infra structure helping with coastal resilience, such as sea walls and flood plains.

Mr Davis went further in his speech, saying his administration is “defining ways to protect and safeguard our shal low seas, mangroves and seagrasses”.

His was not a lone voice at the assembly.

The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, said: “We may sometimes have the impression that we say the same

things, that we repeat each other. I would like to disagree. If committing to peace and security, to development and prosperity, to upholding international law and respecting human rights, engag ing in genuine efforts to mitigate climate change is repeating each other, then we are doing the right thing.”

The President of the Marshall Islands, David Kabua, faces warnings from experts about the eventual uninhabit ability of his country, while saying he must reconcile the inequity of building a seawall to protect one house that will flood another one next door. He urged world leaders to take on sectors that rely on fossil fuels, such as aviation and shipping – including a proposal by the Marshall Islands for a carbon levy on international shipping.

The Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Kausea Natano, talked of rising sea levels, saying: “This is how a Pacific atoll dies. This is how our islands will cease to exist.”

He added: “This is the first time in his tory that the collective action of many nations will have made several sover eign countries uninhabitable.”

Robert Abela, Prime Minister of Malta, said climate change “threatens state sovereignty, brings loss of ter ritory, and causes damage to states’ critical infrastructure as well as their existing rights under maritime zone boundaries”.

Vivian Balakrishnan, the Foreign Minister of Singapore, said: “Ultimately, we share this planet. Despite our differ ences, our destinies are interwoven, and no one is safe until all of us are safe.”

The UN Secretary General, Anto nio Guterres, has also encouraged going after the world’s largest polluters, taxing the profits of energy companies and redirecting the funds to countries affected by the climate crisis.

As Mr Davis was quoted internation ally through the Associated Press from the assembly: “Many are beginning to understand that climate inaction is the most expensive option of all.”

We do not speak alone. And the pres sure is building.

The question is – will those with the power to do something about it live up to their promises?

PICTURE

Adelaide Pines Ltd application

EDITOR, The Tribune.

PLEASE find below for publication our citi zen’s response email sent to Mr Charles Zoni cle, Director of Physical Planning, following last evening’s Town Planning Meeting with regard to the proposed Application by Adelaide Pines Lim ited. Pam Burnside September 22, 2022 Mr Charles Zonicle Director of Physical Planning, Ministry of Works & Utilities.

Good day Mr Zonicle,

Further to last night’s Town Planning Meeting and on behalf of myself and my two sisters, we would like to register strong opposition against the application by Adelaide Pines Limited for a proposed gated subdivi sion in Adelaide.

Adelaide Village is an important historical site and a valuable part of our country’s heritage and patrimony, having been established as a settle ment for freed slaves in the 1830s, and, as such, it has for centuries retained its charm and character, as it should for perpetuity.

It is unconscionable that such an abominable devel opment as that proposed by Adelaide Pines Limited on this 21 by 7 island of New Providence, be even remotely considered for such a precious heritage area as Adelaide, which

deserves our respect and our protection. It certainly does not deserve another sprawling development!

The outlandish scale of 170+ homes along with other commercial and industrial structures (whose prohibi tive costs will no doubt and yet again price Bahami ans out of the market), the design, the purpose, in fact, the overall nature of the pro posed gated development, totally disrespects the char acter of the area and exhibits no sense of place whatso ever. It is, in itself, offensive to us as Bahamians.

The accompanying total degree of environmen tal degradation, i.e. the green and blue economies that would be directly and negatively impacted from such construction, cannot be justified, situated as they are proposed on such important wetlands as the many found throughout Adelaide: i.e. pine forests which are home not only to our crucial groundwa ter - the absolute source of life - but also to our native vegetation like the man groves with nurseries that are essential for marine life, along with the landscape and wildlife that are all sus tainably inter-connected as they have been for centuries in Adelaide. In addition, the concomitant pollution, noise, increased traffic, accompanied by the considerable drain on

infrastructure, utilities, etc, are not conducive to healthy lifestyles.

Such lack of regard for the last few areas of beauty and peace that we, as Baha mians, have left in our country, due to constant developments such as this, should not be allowed. The Albany development has already destroyed a con siderable portion of the Adelaide area, much to the despair of we, the people. So how many more times are we going to allow our selves to be ‘hoodwinked and bamboozled’ before we open our eyes and truly ‘see what we lookin’ at’?

The saying: “Talk is cheap and money buy land” is definitely yet another red flag to warn us once again about the tenuous duplicity of greedy devel opers. It is time for we, the people, to take a firm stand and fiercely protect our rightful patrimony for Bahamians then, now, and into the future!

Therefore, we would like it to strongly state that we utterly oppose any fur ther encroachment of this nature in or around the his toric area of Adelaide! We would be grateful if you would acknowledge receipt of this e-mail, and we thank you for your consideration.

Kind regards,

PAM BURNSIDE, STEPHANIE ROBERTS, DR ANITA OSMAN. Nassau, September 22, 2022

Scrap Village Rd roundabout

EDITOR, The Tribune, PLEASE publish the fol lowing open letter to the Ministry of Works.

I am strongly opposed to a roundabout outside The Bahamas National Trust and Queen’s College for the following reasons:

A roundabout was never mentioned at the Minis try of Works town meeting in March. Residents and stakeholders were denied an opportunity to respond. Shame!

A roundabout was removed at the top of Vil lage Road, practically a stone’s throw away, because it was ineffective and contributed to horrible con gestion. Now MOW wants to build another one just down the street. A waste of the taxpayer’s money.

A roundabout will affect home values in the area.

Would you like to live next to a roundabout?

BNT’s Retreat is a National Park enjoyed by locals and tourists. How can a government, particu larly one that claims to be in the forefront of the fight against climate change, seize national park prop erty held in trust for the Bahamian people? This is mind boggling and I hope they are not threatening to withhold subsidies to pres sure BNT into giving up national park property. If so, Shame! Shame! Shame!

The traffic pile-up occurs only during school dropoff and pick-up hours. QC is not a public school. This is a school problem and the school seems to have successfully addressed the problem by staggering drop off and pick-up hours and opening a second access point.

Why has a roundabout been introduced at this late stage? Did the con tract go out to bid? Who was awarded the contract? What will it cost the tax payer and who bid what?

Residents, students, busi ness owners and motorists are inhaling dust particles into their lungs daily. Pro longing the project to force a roundabout down their throats (along with the dust) is unconscionable.

The lumpy, dust choked and often muddy roads are taking a toll on the vehicles that must traverse Village Road.

Why abandon the origi nal plan for a turning lane with a light operational during school drop-off and pick-up hours?

A MOMENT of fellowship with an embrace during the New Covenant Baptist Church Anniversary Service.

Photo: Austin Fernander

MAN JAILED FOR A YEAR FOR BREAKING BAIL CONDITIONS

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A 23-YEAR-OLD man accused of murder was sen tenced to a year in prison on Friday for violating his bail conditions.

Katraz Coakley, who was on bail for murder, attempted murder, armed

robbery and firearm pos session, was accused of failing to charge his elec tronic monitoring device on several occasions between September 10 and 17.

The 23-year-old admit ted to the offences during his hearing and was subse quently sentenced to one year in prison.

Haitian staffer at embassy released by kidnappers

A HAITIAN staffer employed at the Bahamas Embassy in Haiti has been released by kidnappers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced over the weekend.

“The Ministry of For eign Affairs is pleased to announce the release of a member of The Bahamas Embassy’s locally employed personnel in Port-auPrince, Haiti, who had been kept hostage for sev eral weeks,” the statement, which was issued on Satur day, noted.

“According to sources, the release occurred late yesterday afternoon (Friday) and was relayed

to Chargé Commander Godfrey Rolle, who then informed the ministry. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and family in their endurance through out this ordeal.”

Earlier this month, the ministry announced the reported kidnapping, which it said took place around 6am on September 1 in the employee’s neighbourhood.

After the news broke, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said offers had been made to Baha mian staff to return home if they felt unsafe.

At the time, Mr Davis said no Bahamian employee had “embraced” the option.

MAN ACCUSED OF SEX WITH MINOR

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A 24-YEAR-OLD man has denied having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor two years ago.

Eric Arthur pleaded not guilty to the charge during his arraignment before Senior Justice Bernard Turner on Friday.

Police allege that he

committed the act with a girl, aged 15 at the time, between June 1 and June 12 in 2020.

After pleading not guilty to the offence, Jus tice Turner adjourned the matter to September 29 before Justice Renae McKay for a trial date to be set.

The 24-year-old will remain on remand in the meantime.

In a separate case, Wonya Cooper was also charged on Friday with violating the conditions of his release.

He was granted bail after being charged with murder and attempted murder. However, police allege

that the 21-year-old breached those conditions when he failed to charge the electronic device three

times this month. He denied the allega tions and the matter was adjourned to February 9.

PLP gets its report card - a year of success?

By MALCOLM STRACHAN

ON September 16, 2021, The Bahamas voted in the current administration –meaning we have now had a little over a year of the PLP government.

If you’ve been on social media, you may well have seen plenty of PLP posts about how successful a year it has been – but you’d expect them to say that. But has the government been a success so far?

A year is still in many ways quite early in the life of a government – but it is certainly a moment to make an assessment and see the direction we’re going in. But how do we make such an assessment?

Well, for starters, let’s look at their own assess ment for what makes them a success. Earlier this month, PLP chairman Fred Mitchell cited his own list of achievements by the PLP.

His first declaration of success was the removal of the COVID-19 Emergency Powers Orders. He said: “People are free to travel where they want to go and to try and get their families and lives back together and there’s a semblance of a renewed order in the coun try. I think that’s the first accomplishment…”

While the orders have been lifted, in similar fash ion to countries around the world, COVID is still with us. That’s not a criticism of the PLP administration – we’re simply experienc ing the pandemic the same as the rest of the world. Vaccinations don’t seem to have experienced much of an uplift, and govern ment seems to avoid talking about the virus rather than encouraging people to take measures such as vaccina tion to fight it. But if your measure of success is simply there not being orders in place, then yes, that’s changed. Whether that’s put people more at risk doesn’t seem to be a factor in Mr Mitchell’s conversation.

Next up, he praised the reduction of VAT. He said: “The VAT was reduced as we promised.”

Well… sort of. VAT was indeed reduced to ten per cent – and that was indeed a promise. But no men tion was made at the time of adding it back on to breadbasket items. So your view of whether that is an achievement or not is down to your view of how impor tant it is to have VAT-free essential items.

What next? Well, Mr Mitchell cited a housing programme being “off to a start” but we’ve seen lim ited impact of that so far. Again, with it only being

a year into the govern ment, perhaps that’s not too surprising.

He also spoke of efforts to help Dorian victims, saying “it’s taken much too long to get people back on their feet”. It has indeed –and that hasn’t been helped in this past week or two with the sight of the dome shelters being demolished, with one resident saying he watched his belongings destroyed in the process and being left with nowhere to live. He said it was “like Dorian all over again”.

What about the social programmes to help people? The much-touted RISE programme to assist people in need still hasn’t been launched – and won’t be until next month, Social Services Minister Obie Wilchcombe said on Friday. He announced the plan in July – it was supposed to help people in need because of increased prices, inflation and an insufficient minimum wage. One of those price factors is the added VAT on breadbasket items the PLP themselves imposed.

Earlier this month, financial expert and Fidel ity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive Gowon Bowe, criticised the govern ment for that delay. He said: “When VAT was

reintroduced on a broader base, really the persons most severely impacted that needed those benefits have effectively been penalised for the better part of nine months because the cost of items went up for them but the needed assistance has not been implemented.”

He added: “Maybe they could have been forgiven for a month, maybe a quarter, but now it’s three quarters… you cannot dis miss the cries of people in need.”

Last month, Mr Mitchell also listed other items that are achievements of this administration, including settling long outstanding labour contracts for the public service. There does indeed seem to have been progress in resolving dis putes with workers, and long overdue deals par ticularly with teachers and nurses have been resolved. Credit where it is due, and those employees particu larly will be pleased to have such matters dealt with.

More thornily, Mr Mitchell said: “Fixing the economy of Grand Bahama is a big deal.”

It is indeed a big deal –but it’s far from clear that this has been done. In the past week, the deadline for due diligence by the Grand Lucayan buyer ran out, even with an extension that had been granted.

There is still a comple tion date on that deal – but there has been nervousness in the past week or two, with Deputy Prime Minister suggesting public discus sion of the negotiations was not helpful. You can bet if

everything was going fine, every PLP would be singing it from the rooftops.

If that deal goes through, great, job well done by all involved – but if it falters, that’s a major blow for the administration.

As for the rest of the Grand Bahama economy, Mr Mitchell is certainly overstating matters by suggesting fixing it is an achievement in the govern ment’s first year. It’s not there yet.

What else is there? Well, we have a Police Commis sioner who suggested the country would not pass the 100 mark in murders for the year, and we’re almost there before the end of Septem ber. If he is that wildly out on this prediction, it makes one wonder about the accu racy of his other statements.

Freedom of Informa tion is so bad we can’t even get a date on when Free dom of Information will be implemented.

We still don’t know which Parliamentarians met the deadline for declarations as required by law – and which did not and any penalty they might face.

We still don’t know what contracts were awarded by the new government as they busily try to change

the legislation that requires them to do so.

And we still don’t have legislation in place regard ing such matters as marital rape, marijuana, citizen ship and more, despite the government having a huge majority in Parliament to vote on such issues.

So, a year in, where are we? Frankly, it’s too soon to tell. There are good signs, such as Prime Min ister Philip “Brave” Davis being on the forward foot internationally with regard to climate change and opening up the prospect of more revenue through carbon credits, as well as the economy continu ing to recover from the pandemic – but there are also some of the same old issues, such as lack of information and transpar ency, and surprisingly few items of major legislation passed so far.

It is, of course, over the entirety of an administra tion’s term that they should be judged – but so far it’s neither a resounding suc cess, nor a resounding failure.

A lot hinges on this Grand Lucayan deal, though - it’s a big one to watch. Keep a close on what is happening there.

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and, top, the Grand Lucayan Resort.

AT 6,500 feet, while flying a single engine plane from Nassau to Florida, my patient’s engine failed. He was alone in a cocoon of absolute silence. He knew that his survival hinged on his ability to locate a safe place to land. Fortunately, he was able to restart the engine but four other times during his one hour flight, the engine malfunctioned. At the time, my patient, hereafter referred to as AJ, was in his mid-30s and although he managed to land safely, this would be the first of many lessons he was forced to learn about remaining calm in the face of life-threatening danger.

AJ was born in Barbados but moved to The Bahamas with his family at the age of five in the 1960s. Outside of some transient issues with his kidneys that resolved entirely with medication, his childhood was rela tively normal. He excelled in school and became a licensed commercial pilot. AJ loved his career and that, with his wife and chil dren, gave him an incredible sense of joy and life satis faction. But by 2014, AJ stopped flying commer cially and instead became a licensed aircraft engineer with his own fuel transport business. Owning a business that allowed him to per sonally maintain the type of aircraft he once flew not only felt like a safer option, it was an opportunity to build greater financial secu rity for his family.

An accident at work, lit erally a single misstep, soon changed that sentiment and years later the ramifications of that injury continue to plague him. AJ was filling a tank with fuel when he accidentally stepped on a trench, lost his balance and fell onto the back of his neck and shoulder. He immediately felt a sharp pop. As a former safety advisor for a leading gas company he was trained not to panic so he laid there for several min utes, never moving. His entire body felt extremely tight and he had a throbbing head ache. With no one in sight to assist him and too far away to hear his screams for help, AJ slowly, carefully, stood up, got into his truck and completed his job.

Hoping that he had only sustained a bad bruise, he went home and slept. But the next day when he went to raise his hand, he felt an electric shock at the back of his head so painful that he thought he might lose con sciousness. AJ called his sister, a nurse, and she advised him to immediately seek medi cal attention. An MRI was ordered by his treating phy sician and the findings were significant. He’d sustained fractures to the spinal discs in his neck and back and he had complete tears in the rotator cuffs in both his left and right shoulders with a near five centimeter muscle displace ment, a profound gash that ran the length of nearly two inches.

The injuries that AJ sustained were alarming because any further shift could result in paraly sis. A neurosurgeon was consulted and it was deter mined that his neck fracture was most critical and had to be repaired first. That sur gery was performed in 2014 and he couldn’t undergo any other surgeries for one year in fear that while attempting to repair his back and shoul der, it may undermine the healing in his neck.

His right dominant shoul der was then operated on in 2015 but weeks later, as he was getting ready to go to church, his wife noticed that his shirt was wet near

his incision site. When he removed his shirt, the area was red and pulsating. It had been painful since his surgery but that day, as he gently pressed along his shoulder, the incision site exploded, bursting out a copious amount of blood and pus.

AJ was admitted to the hospital. His shoulder was gravely infected and had to be operated on immediately for a second time. He was placed on a strong cocktail of intravenous antibiotics and kept in hospital for sev eral days until the infection resolved. For the next year and more, he underwent intense physical therapy on his right shoulder. With both his neck and right shoulder injuries repaired, AJ was eager to have his back and left shoulder inju ries addressed. His pain at night was debilitating and intense but in the day he was surprisingly functional so he continued to work.

In 2017, AJ and his brother were making a routine delivery transfer ring gas from one truck to another when the unthinkable happened. The delivery truck, filled with highly combustible gas, exploded, possibly the result of someone noncha lantly tossing a cigarette near it. AJ’s youngest brother was caught in the path. AJ watched in horror as his brother’s entire body was engulfed in flames. There was nothing that could be done to save him. His organs began to fail within hours of extinguish ing the fire and he died the following afternoon.

Reeling from the unex pected and tragic death of his brother, AJ was afraid to undergo any further sur geries during that time. So, when his insurance provider delayed his approval for any further surgical interventions, he didn’t fight it. It wasn’t until two years later that he realized the importance of addressing his injuries sooner rather than later.

While performing con tractual work at the airport, he noticed that the emer gency switch on the belt console that loads bags onto an airplane was broken. In an attempt to fix it, his hand got stuck and as it dragged his body upwards, pulling from his surgically repaired right shoulder, it sliced off three of his fingers and most of his fourth finger. The fourth finger, as it remained attached, continued to drag him forward causing excru ciating pain so before it could cause further damage, he pulled his fourth finger off and jumped down.

Alone and with only his thumb on his right hand, he shouted for help but the ramp was too noisy for anyone to hear. His train ing as a safety advisor once again kicked in. AJ remained calm and walked until he saw some airport workers who he got to bring him a towel, his four fin gers and his cell phone that dropped out of his pocket. He wrapped his hand, now burning and stinging all over, and called his wife of 43 years to meet him at the hospital. Eleven surgeries to his hand were performed in total but ultimately his fingers couldn’t be success fully reattached.

To a pilot, travelling west means to follow the setting sun so when a pilot dies it’s often referred to as flying west. At age 67, AJ recog nises how close he’s come to flying west on multiple occasions and how fortu nate he is to still be alive. Last year when his legs began to cramp at night, he finally had the fractured

disc in his back surgically repaired and early this year he underwent left shoulder replacement surgery.

Now retired, he spends most of his time with his wife, kids and grandkids and he is the happiest he has ever been, at peace, enjoying life’s moments. His take home message is that in the case of emergencies to think and act quickly but to always stay calm because in those critical

Almost flew west

seconds, it could mean the difference between life and death, looking to tomorrow or flying west.

AJ also espouses the importance of not dwell ing on the bad things that happen to you in life but to focus on the positive. His story richly reminds us that we are all visitors to this time and place in his tory and for however long we walk this path, each

day our shared language must be to live a life that our children and successive generations can celebrate.

A life of courage, positivity and gratitude; those were the traits that helped AJ navigate safely home when his engine precipitously failed so many years ago and have undoubtedly and consistently kept him safe ever since.

This is The KDK Report.

By DR KENNETH D KEMP

• Nicknamed ‘The Prince of Podiatry’, Dr Kenneth D Kemp is the founder and medical director of Baha mas Foot and Ankle located in Caves Village, Western New Providence. He served as the deputy chairman for the Health Council for five years and he currently sits on the board of directors for the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in his role as co-vice-chairman.

PRESIDENT PUTIN - THE WORLD SHOULD SAY ‘NO MORE’

“EVERY bullet, every bomb, every shell that hits a target in Ukraine, hits our pockets and our economies in Africa.” Those were the words of the President of Ghana, Akufo-Addo, at the UN General Assembly on September 21.

The Ghanaian President was referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which aggravated an already dif ficult worldwide economic situation, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While he spoke as an African, Akufo-Addo could have been speaking for every developing region of the world, including the Caribbean.

Several African countries now have inflation rates, surging three to four times higher than they were just two years ago. The situation is no different in the Carib bean region.

If the world was turned upside down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rus sia’s invasion of Ukraine is damaging it still further. And, with no end in sight. No region of the world, or any person within regions, has escaped the consequences of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ill-advised invasion, clearly aimed at seizure of large

World View

By SIR RONALD SANDERS

tracts of Ukrainian land and strategic access to the sea and global commerce.

In July, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said “global growth is projected to slow from an estimated 6.1 percent in 2021 to 3.6 percent in 2022 and 2023. This is 0.8 and 0.2 percent age points lower for 2022 and 2023 than projected in January”.

The IMF emphasised the economic costs of the Rus sian war against Ukraine “are expected to spread farther afield through com modity markets, trade, and - to a lesser extent - finan cial interlinkages. Fuel and food price rises are already having a global impact, with vulnerable populations— particularly in low-income countries - most affected”. Therefore, the troubling economic and financial situ ation should completely dispel the illusion, held by some in the developing

world that the war has nothing to do with us. In fact, the entire world has a vested interest in encourag ing its immediate end.

The leaders of the two most important develop ing countries, Xi Jinping of China and Narendra Modi of India recently indicated their concerns about the war. Significantly Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Presi dent of Turkey, has called for an end to the war in Ukraine “as soon as pos sible through diplomatic channels”.

As in all unpopular wars - and this one cer tainly is - Russian military forces have been losing ground to the more com mitted Ukrainian troops. The former are soldiers, carrying out orders; the latter are men and women determined to protect their homeland with their lives. Despite the supe rior Russian military

firepower, especially mis siles launched from areas bordering Ukraine, the Ukrainians, armed with improved weaponry gifted by sympathetic nations and fortified by a patri otic resoluteness - have pushed Russian troops out of Ukrainian territory that they had earlier seized.

This has caused President Putin to announce conscrip tion of reservists and other civilians. But his plan has met resistance. More than 800 Russians were arrested in anti-war demonstra tions in 37 cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, according to the independ ent Russian human rights group OVD-Info. The number of men fleeing the country has increased as has widespread protests by Russian citizens.

The protestors have been assaulted with mili tary force and hundreds have been detained. Jour nalists in Moscow, with the international news agency, Associated Press, reported that they witnessed at least a dozen arrests in the first 15 minutes of a nighttime protest in the capital, with police in heavy body armour tackling demon strators and hauling some away as they chanted, “No to war!”

Fighting a war, which relies on reluctant con scripts, is unlikely to bring the success Putin told

the Russian people was imminent. Instead, the Ukrainians have recaptured swathes of Russian-occu pied territory. In addition to sinking confidence in any achievement, resulting from the war, the Russia econ omy is also suffering.

Despite all this, and in a departure from real ity, President Putin has held referenda “on join ing Russia” in areas of the Ukraine Russian troops occupy.

Referenda in the middle of a war, and with the population living under the guns of occupy ing forces, would hardly be credible to any nation in the global community. However, the decision to hold them clearly shows Putin’s intention to annex the areas to Russia. Con sequently, the war will escalate further, as the Ukrainians intensify their resistance.

In his quest to re-estab lish the Soviet Union, Putin is doing so by seizing the territory of a neighbour ing state and balkanising it. This is a grave violation of the international legal order, which Russia was party to establishing and which has been applied by the UN Security Council since 1945.

But, in the way of power ful nations, rules and laws are discarded when it does not suit the ambitions of

their governments. Every government, at the United Nations General Assembly this month, at the General Assembly of the Organization of American States next month, and in every international meet ing, should make it very clear to Putin that the war against Ukraine is not only unpopular, but it is fast becoming a war against global economic peace and growth, which are vital conditions for economic progress in developing countries.

Developing countries, especially, small states, depend on adherence to international law; they also need global peace that facilitates travel for tour ism, aid money being spent on development and not on arms, and competitive com merce that reduces high prices for food and other goods.

President Putin has jeop ardised all that.

• Responses and previ ous commentaries: www. sirronaldsanders.com

(The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassa dor to the United States of America and the Organiza tion of American States. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Common wealth Studies, University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto)

PRESIDENT of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly Wednesday.

Photo: Jason DeCrow/AP

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday.

Photo: Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik via AP

By DAI QINGLI, Chinese ambassador to The Bahamas THE

NO other issue has such a central position or fun damental impact on the direction of China-US relations as the Taiwan question. Over the past seven decades and more, the U.S. has found in Taiwan a convenient card to play in a larger geopoliti cal game with China, aimed at maintaining and perpetu ating its global strategic supremacy. Till this day, the shifting US approach to Taiwan and China’s reac tion to it has profoundly shaped China-US relations and the strategic environ ment of the Asia-Pacific region.

Who lost China?

After Britain became the first Western imperi alist power to force open China’s doors in 1840, the United States quickly fol lowed suit and imposed an unequal Treaty on China in 1844, whereby it obtained extraterritorial as well as commercial rights in China.

Concerned about its latecomer disadvantage, the US proclaimed a so-called “Open Door” policy, which allowed it to free-ride on all the privileges other colonial powers had exacted from China. With the European powers embroiled in world wars and Japan defeated in World War II, the United States emerged as the pre dominant power in China.

In the initial years of the Cold War, the US sought to make China a bastion against the Soviet Union by propping up the Kuomintang regime (the Nationalists). It provided the Kuomintang with huge economic and military assistance in fighting a civil war with the much poorer and weaker Communists. Yet the US could not save the corrupt regime from its fate. The Kuomintang was defeated and fled to Taiwan. The Communists proclaimed the People’s Republic in October 1949.

This prompted a raging debate in Washington on “Who Lost China”, which ended up blaming a few China-hands for cautioning against the US’ one-sided support for the Kuom intang. This debate and the full-blown Cold War led to a US policy of isolation and containment of New China and its continued support for the Kuomintang regime on Taiwan.

When the Korean War broke out, seeing the value of Taiwan as an unsinkable aircraft carrier, President Truman ordered the Sev enth Fleet into the Taiwan Strait in June 1950 and the US 13th Air Force set up base in Taiwan. In December 1954, the US concluded with Taiwan a mutual defense treaty plac ing the island under US “protection”.

All this sealed Taiwan’s position as an outpost of US hegemony and the ultimate flashpoint in China-US relations.

With the support of the US, the Kuomintang regime continued to occupy China’s seat in the United Nations for decades even after they were overthrown by the Chinese people. With growing support for China among the newly independent countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, Resolution 2758 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly

in October 1971 finally restored all the lawful rights of the People’s Republic in the UN and established the one-China principle in the international arena.

One step forward

In the early 1970s, Presi dent Richard Nixon made major adjustments to the US global strategy by seeking to leverage China against Soviet expansion ism. An armed conflict between China and the Soviet Union on the border in 1969 and the subse quent deterioration of their relations gave Nixon the opportunity he needed. China on the other hand was also seeking to improve relations with the US to avoid a face-off with both superpowers at the same time.

The Chinese broke the ice by inviting the Ameri can table tennis team to visit China in April 1971, which resumed friendly exchanges between the two peoples for the first time since the founding of New China.

Shortly after this act of “ping-pong diplomacy”, or a little ball (table tennis ball) moving the big ball (the global balance of power), National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger paid a secret visit to China in July 1971 to negotiate on Taiwan and prepare the way for President Nixon’s visit to China in February 1972.

The moment Nixon got off the plane, he stretched out his hand to Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai to correct US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’ slight of Zhou during the 1954 Geneva Conference by not allowing the US delegation to shake hands with Zhou. And Nixon’s very first words were, “This hand stretches out across the Pacific Ocean in friendship”.

Nixon’s visit led to the issuing of the first of a series of three joint com muniques between the two countries. The Shang hai Communique of Feb 1972 stated: “The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait main tain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States Government does not chal lenge that position.”

This Communique was a major triumph for both the US and China for differ ent reasons. Yet the formal establishment of diplomatic relations had to wait until Jan 1979.

President Jimmy Carter, confronted by an ever more assertive Soviet Union finally accepted the three conditions laid out by Deng Xiaoping for the establishment of dip lomatic relations, namely, the US severs “diplomatic relations”, abrogates the “mutual defense treaty”, and withdraws military forces from Taiwan.

On 1 January, 1979, China and the United States for mally established diplomatic relations. The Communique on the same stated: “The United States recognizes the Government of the Peo ple’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China. Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cul tural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan.”

Two steps back in the back for

China came barely three months after the estab lishment of diplomatic relations. The US Con gress passed a so-called Taiwan Relations Act, which contravened the US’ international obligations under the China-US com muniques, and provided the excuse for the US to maintain official relations and continue arms sales to Taiwan.

In order to resolve the issue of US arms sales to Taiwan, China and the US issued the third joint communique. The August 17th communique of 1982 stated, “The United States does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, that its arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed, either in quali tative or in quantitative terms, the level of those supplied in recent years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China and that it intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution.”

Yet, shortly afterwards, the Reagan administra tion privately made the so-called “Six Assurances” to Taiwan that the US has not agreed to set a date for ending arms sales and has not altered its position

regarding sovereignty over Taiwan.

Not surprisingly, the August 17th Communique was never honoured in earnest. Over the ensu ing decades, the US has only increased arms sales to Taiwan in both qualita tive and quantitative terms, with the cumulative volume of sales exceeding US$70 billion.

The end of the Cold War, which undercut the basis for strategic cooperation between China and the US, US policy towards China started to oscillate between containment and engage ment, and the temptation to use the Taiwan card further increased. Tensions came to a head in June 1995 when the US allowed Taiwan’s separatist leader to make a “private” visit to the US.

China responded with diplomatic representations, test firing of missiles and military exercises. China’s actions drove home the message that “Taiwan inde pendence” means war and the one-China principle must be upheld.

China’s firm response to this crisis brought President Bill Clinton to explicitly undertake a “three no’s” commitment during his visit to China in 1998, namely, the US will not support “Taiwan independence”, not support “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan”,

and not support Taiwan’s accession to international organisations whose mem bership is restricted to sovereign states.

New shifts, rising tension In recent years, work ing hand in glove with the pro-independence Taiwan authorities, the US has kept sliding down the slippery slope of hollowing out and distorting its one-China policy, plunging China-US and cross-Strait relations to new lows and endangering peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the AsiaPacific at large.

Even before he took office, President-elect Trump talked with Tai wan’s leader on the phone, foreshadowing what was to come. Labeling China as a strategic competitor, President Trump launched a trade war against China by imposing exorbitant tar iffs on 360 billion dollars’ worth of Chinese exports to the US and pushed for economic and technologi cal decoupling with China. Trump further approved 11 arms sales to Taiwan, with a record value of US$18.3 billion.

The US also sought to water down its one-China policy. On the basis of plac ing the Taiwan Relations Act before the three ChinaUS Joint Communiques in 2001, President Trump

declassified and inserted the “Six Assurances” into the US’ one-China policy, both of which were firmly opposed by China.

The US has continued to increase official exchanges with Taiwan, with visits to Taiwan by the US Health Secretary and Deputy Sec retary of State in 2020.

Not to be outdone by his predecessor in getting tough with China, President Joseph Biden described China as the “most seri ous competitor” and went further in economic and technological decoupling with China. And five arms sales to Taiwan were approved in just over a year.

The recent visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was just the latest example and a culmination of blatant provocation over China’s core national interests.

The US’ consistent attempt to use Taiwan to prevent China’s rise and preserve its global hegem ony is as pathetic as its ploy of perpetuating divi sion between the mainland and Taiwan futile. Defend ing national sovereignty and territorial integrity is paramount for China who had suffered so much since modern times. Time and tide are on China’s side. The US should know better than to resist the gravity of history. pawn on the grand chessboard’

THE 73RD anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China was celebrated in a reception hosted by the Chinese Embassy in The Bahamas and Ambassador Dai Qingli on Thursday. Pictured from left are US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Usha Pitts, Dorothea Munroe, Minister of National Security Wayne Monroe, Ambassador Dai Qingli, Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper, Cecilia Cooper, FNM deputy leader Shanendon Cartwright, and Minister of State for the Environment Basil McIntosh. Also in atttendance was Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources Vaughn MillerMinistry of Tourism global rela tions consultant Senator Randy Rolle, and other officials.

Photo: Kemuel Stubbs/BIS

RIHANNA TO HEADLINE THE NEXT SUPER BOWL HALF-TIME SHOW

RIHANNA will take centre stage at February’s Super Bowl halftime show.

The singer, who declined to perform in the 2019 Super Bowl half-time show out of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, will headline the 2023 Super Bowl, the NFL announced yester day along with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Apple Music. Rihanna posted an image on Instagram of an arm out stretched holding an NFL football.

“Rihanna is a genera tional talent, a woman of humble beginnings who

has surpassed expecta tions at every turn,” said Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation is an executive producer of the show, in a state ment. “A person born on the small island of Barba dos who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment.”

The Super Bowl will take place at State Farm Sta dium in Glendale, Arizona, on February 12. After years of Pepsi’s sponsorship, the upcoming halftime show will be sponsored by Apple Music.

Far-right leader’s alliance leads in Italy vote

ROME Associated Press

FAR-RIGHT leader

Giorgia Meloni’s electoral alliance appeared to hold a wide lead in Italy’s national vote, an exit poll on state television suggested shortly after polls closed last night.

Rai state broadcaster said Meloni’s Brothers of Italy in alliance with two right-wing parties appeared headed to take as much as 45% of the vote in both chambers of Parliament, compared to the closest contender, the center-left alliance of former Demo cratic Party Premier Enrico Letta, which apparently garnered 29.5%. Rai said the exit poll had a margin of error of 3.5%.

Meloni, 45, would be well-positioned to become Italy’s first far-right premier since the end of World War II and the first woman in the country to hold that office. Her party, with neo-fascist roots, would need to form a coalition with her main allies, anti-migrant League leader Matteo Salvini and conservative former Pre mier Silvio Berlusconi to command a solid majority

in Parliament. Meloni’s meteoric rise in the European Union’s third-largest economy comes at a critical time, as much of the continent reels under soaring energy bills, a repercussion of the war in Ukraine.

“Today you can help write history,” Meloni tweeted yesterday.

Meloni’s party was forged from the legacy of a neofascist party formed shortly the war by nostalgists of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Running close behind in final opinion polls was former Premier Enrico Letta and his center-left Democratic Party.

Assembling a viable, ruling coalition in Italy could take weeks, however.

Meloni joined forces in an election alliance with another right-wing leader, Matteo Salvini, who heads the anti-migrant League party, as well as with Silvio Berlusconi, the three-time premier who heads the Forza Italia party he cre ated three decades ago. Italy’s complex electoral law rewards campaign coalitions.

CANADA POWER PROBLEMS AFTER IMPACT OF STORM

HUNDREDS of thou sands of people in Atlantic Canada remained without power yesterday and offi cials said they found the body of a woman swept into the sea after former Hur ricane Fiona washed away houses, stripped off roofs and blocked roads across the country’s Atlantic provinces.

After surging north from the Caribbean, Fiona came ashore before dawn Sat urday as a post-tropical cyclone, battering Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricanestrength winds, rains and waves.

Defence Minister Anita Anand said troops would help remove fallen trees, restore transportation links and do whatever else is required for as long as it takes.

Fiona was blamed for at

least five deaths in the Car ibbean, and one death in Canada. Authorities found the body of a 73-year-old woman in the water who was missing in ChannelPort Aux Basques, a town on the southern coast of Newfoundland.

Police said the woman was inside her residence moments before a wave struck the home on Sat urday morning, tearing away a portion of the base ment. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a release on social media that with assistance from the Canadian Coast Guard, as other rescue teams her body woman was recovered late Sunday afternoon.

“Living in coastal com munities we know what can happen and tragically the sea has taken another from us,” said Gudie Hutchings, the Member of Parliament from Newfoundland.

CUBA HOLDS VOTE ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

CUBA held a rare ref erendum yesterday on an unusually contentious law — a government-backed “family law” code that would allow same-sex cou ples to marry and adopt, as well as outlining the rights of children and grandparents.

Cuba holds parliamen tary elections every two years, though no party other than the Communist is allowed, but seldom has it held referendums on spe cific laws.

And seldom has an offi cially backed measure met as much open criticism as the family law of more than 400 articles, which has

been questioned by many members of the island’s increasingly vocal evangeli cal community. The sweeping code also would allow surrogate pregnancies, broader rights for grandparents in regard to grandchildren, protec tion of the elderly and measures against gender violence.

President Miguel DíazCanel, who has promoted the law acknowledged resistance as he voted yesterday.

“Most of our people will vote in favour of the code, but it still has issues that our society as a whole does not understand,” he said.

RIHANNA is set to star in the Super Bowl in February.

FAR-right Brothers of Italy’s leader Giorgia Meloni votes at a poll ing station in Rome, yesterday. Photo: Alessandra Tarantino/AP

Jones and BIH look to get in the win column

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

BRONCOS EDGE NINERS 11-10 IN PRIME TIME

By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Pro Football Writer

Jonquel

Jones and her Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) side remain winless thus far at the FIBA Wom en’s Basketball World Cup.

Despite the team’s struggles, Jones has been a leader across several offensive categories as competition continues among the top 12 wom en’s national teams in the world at the tournament in Sydney, Australia.

Jones has averaged 15.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game - all team leads - through four contests. She opened the tournament with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists in an 82-58 loss to Puerto Rico.

In game two, Jones posted 17 points, nine rebounds and two assists in a 98-51 loss to China.

In a 99-66 loss to Korea, she finished just shy of a double double once again with 21 points, nine rebounds and two assists. She had a tournament low eight points and seven rebounds in last night’s 85-55 loss to Belgium.

BIH will conclude play in Group A against the USA on Tuesday.

At the end of the Group Phase, the top four teams of each group will advance to the Final Phase. A draw will determine the pairings

of the Quarter-Finals. The two best-ranked teams of each group (group A and group B) will be drawn against the two teams ranked third and fourth of the other group.

After Jones led the BIH programme’s historic first ever appearance at the event, FIBA’s analysis of the first matches of the group stage lists the team’s as one of the tournament’s surprises thus far.

“Perhaps you can file Bosnia and Herzegovina as the biggest disappointment by far. What was a fair ytale first-ever appearance at the event was supposed to be followed by at least two wins - against Puerto Rico and then Korea. But that fairytale morphed into an intense nightmare with not just two losses to their group rivals, but really poor losses,” the analysis said. “What we learned is that you can have one of the female game’s best ballers in your team like Jonquel Jones, but it means nothing if you don’t play defence and miss wide open layups

constantly when opponents are double-teaming her.”

Jones delivered a series of spectacular perfor mances en route to leading BIH to World Cup 2022 qualification.

She led BIH to a 1-1 record and was named

TISSOT MVP and a member of the All-Tour nament team at the World Cup Qualifying Tourna ment last February in Osaka, Japan.

She averaged 25.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while

shooting 52 percent from the field and 44 percent from three.

Jones also led BIH to an historic fifth-place finish at Women’s EuroBasket 2021 and continued that domi nance at the Eurobasket 2023 Qualifiers.

DENVER (AP) — Melvin Gordon atoned for two fumbles with a late 1-yard touchdown run and safety Kareem Jack son recovered Jeff Wilson Jr’s fumble with 1:05 left to preserve the Denver Bron cos’ 11-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers last night.

Russell Wilson and the Broncos (2-1) won despite going three-and-out nine times. Their only sus tained drive was a 12-play, 80-yarder that included a 12-yard scramble by Wilson. Gordon capped it with a 1-yard run with 4:10 remain ing, but Wilson’s 2-point pass was batted down, leav ing the Broncos clinging to a one-point lead.

Jimmy Garoppolo, in his first start for the injured Trey Lance, drove the 49ers (1-2) to midfield but his pass to Deebo Samuel was tipped by Jackson and intercepted by linebacker Jonas Griffith at the Denver 42 just before the 2-minute warning. The Broncos went three-and-out for the ninth time in their 13 possessions, and the Niners got the ball back at their 15 with 1:42 left after punt returner RayRay McCloud recovered his own muffed punt. Bradley Chubb sacked Garoppolo for a 12-yard loss to the San Francisco 3.

Then, Wilson hauled in the pass and coughed up the football on a hit from P.J. Locke, and Jackson scooped up the loose ball with 65 seconds left at the 49ers’ 24.

WILDCATS SWEEP TRUCKERS, ADVANCE

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ACE pitcher Thomas Davis liked what he saw from his Sigma Blue Mar lins as they swept aside the Atlantis Titans in two straight games to advance to the New Providence Softball Association men’s championship series.

Thomas, pitching a two-hit, six strike out per formance on the mound, helped the Marlins wrap up their best-of-three series on Saturday night at the Banker’s Field in

the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex with a 10-3 abbre viated five-inning affair

The win came after the Marlins nipped the Titans 3-2 in the opener of the series on Thursday night.

“We were a little sluggish in the first game hitting wise, but we wanted to come out tonight hitting the ball behind me on the mound,” said Thomas, who also helped his own cause by going 1-for-2 with two runs scored.

The Marlins are now moving on to the best-offive championship series against the winner of the

pennant winning C&S Hitmen and the Chances Mighty Mitts.

The Hitmen took game one of the series on Friday with 12-9 slugfest. Game two will be played on Thursday night.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Thomas about the possibility of playing the Hitmen, the winners of the last championship series played in the NPSA prior to COVID-19, which disrupted the past two sea sons. “We have a different team and another different name, so we expect to be in a dog fight with them.”

Shortstop Austin Hanna enjoyed a 2-for-4 night at the plate with a pair of runs batted in (RBI) and scored as many runs himself to earn the most valuable player award of the game over left fielder Lamar Watkins, who was 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored.

Centre fielder Angelo Watson also had a good outing. In fact, it was a perfect 3-for-3 with a RBI and a run scored.

Third baseman Lavaughn Ferguson was 2-for-3 with a RBI and run scored and catcher

Garfield Bethel also came home twice.

The Marlins got three runs in the second, high lighted by a two-run double from Watkins - three in the third and four in the fourth, sparked by a RBI double from Hanna.

Cardinal Gilbert, starting at the designated player, got a lead off single in the bottom of the second and eventually scored on short stop Nathan ‘Gee’ Bethel’s run-producing single for Atlantis’ first run. The Titans came back in the

SEE PAGE 17

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MAINSTAY pitcher

Thela Stevens said the best is yet to come from her Sunshine Auto Wildcats.

The pennant winning Wildcats, winners of the last three straight ladies’ fastpitch titles in the New Providence Softball Associ ation before the break over the past two years because of COVID-19, advanced to the championships with a two-game sweep over the

Kipchoge clocks 2:01:09 for world record in Berlin Marathon

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press

SAITAMA, Japan (AP)

— Floyd Mayweather Jr easily knocked out his opponent in the second round of an exhibition match in Japan yesterday, said he had fun and prom ised to be back next year.

“I’d like to thank the whole country of Japan,” the 45-year-old boxing legend, who won all 50 of his professional fights, told a packed crowd at Saitama Super Arena, north of Tokyo.

Mikuru Asakura, 30, a popular Japanese MMA, or mixed martial artist, fighter, managed to land a few punches in his boxing

By CIARÁN FAHEY AP Sports Writer

BERLIN (AP) — He’s done it again.

Two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge bettered his own world record in the Berlin Mara thon yesterday.

The Kenyan star clocked 2 hours, 1 minute, 9 sec onds to shave 30 seconds off his previous best mark of 2:01:39 set on the same course in 2018.

“My legs and my body still feel young,” the 37-year-old Kipchoge said. “But the most important thing is my mind, and that also feels fresh and young. I’m so happy to break the world record.”

Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa unexpectedly won the

“I wasn’t afraid of my rivals, even though they had

faster times than me,” the 26-year-old Assefa said.

Kenya’s Rosemary Wanjiru was second on her debut in 2:18:00 –the second fastest debut ever run – just ahead of Ethiopian runner Tigist Abayechew in 2:18:03.

Kipchoge and Assefa’s combined time of 4:16:46 ensured the marathon was the fastest ever. The men’s record has now been set eight times in a row in Berlin, favoured by runners for its flat course.

It’s Kipchoge’s fourth win in the city, equalling the record set by Haile Gebrse lassie. The Ethiopian great – like Kipchoge now – also set two world records (in 2007 and 2008) in Berlin.

debut. But Asakura crum pled to the floor in the second round when May weather became more

aggressive. When May weather landed a right

FLOYD Mayweather yesterday throws a punch against mixed martial artist Mikuru Asakura of Japan in Saitama. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

women’s race in a course record of 2:15:37 – 18 min utes faster than she had ever run before. It was the third fastest time ever.

KENYA’s Eliud Kipchoge cross es the line to win the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, yesterday. (AP)

TEAM LEADER: Jonquel Jones, of The Bahamas, has been a leader across several offensive categories as competition continues among the top 12 women’s national teams in the world at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Sydney, Australia.

Dolphins stuff Bills, Allen late, hold on for 21-19 win

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida (AP) — The Miami Dolphins’ defence stopped Josh Allen and the Bills at the goal line late, then held again after punter Thomas Morstead bizarrely kicked the ball off a teammate and out of bounds for a safety in a 21-19 win over Buffalo yesterday.

Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins improved to 3-0 in an AFC East thriller that ended with Allen and the Bills attempting to spike the ball near midfield, the clock just running out on their chance to try a longdistance, go-ahead field goal.

Tagovailoa briefly left the game in the second quarter, returning after halftime despite appearing to be disoriented by a head injury.

Miami took a 21-17 lead with about 10 minutes left in the game on Chase Edmonds’ 3-yard run. It was the Bills’ first deficit of the season.

PACKERS 14, BUCCANEERS 12

TAMPA, Florida (AP) — Aaron Rodgers threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns, and Green Bay withstood a late rally led by Tom Brady to beat Tampa Bay.

Rodgers tossed TD passes of 5 yards to Romeo Doubs and 6 yards to Allen Lazard on his team’s first two possessions, while the Bucs’ offense sputtered much of the day without star receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Julio Jones.

For the second straight week, the Bucs (2-1) were held without a touchdown into the fourth quarter. Brady finally got them into the end zone on a 1-yard pass to Russell Gage, cap ping a 90-yard drive with 14 seconds remaining.

Rodgers completed 27 of 35 passes and was inter cepted once in the first matchup in NFL history in which each starting quar terback has won at least three regular-season league MVP awards.

Brady finished 31 of 42 passing for 271 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked three times.

RAVENS 37, PATRIOTS 28 FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Lamar Jackson threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score as Baltimore held off New England.

New England’s Mac Jones suffered a leg injury with less than two minutes to play, hopping off the field and heading straight to the locker room. He completed 22 of 32 passes for 321 yards but threw three interceptions.

Justin Tucker kicked a 56-yard field goal, the 50th of his career from 50 yards or more, as Baltimore (2-1)

WILDCATS

claimed its first regular-sea son victory at New England in seven tries.

VIKINGS 28, LIONS 24

MINNEAPOLIS (AP)

— Kirk Cousins connected with a wide-open K.J. Osborn for the go-ahead, 28-yard touchdown with 45 seconds remaining, and Minnesota rallied past Detroit.

Osborn blew by former Vikings cornerback Mike Hughes on a corner route to snag the in-stride pass and cruise across the goal line to give Minnesota (2-1) the lead for the first time.

The Vikings then didn’t let Jared Goff and the Lions cross midfield.

Dalvin Cook rushed for 96 yards and a score before leaving with a shoulder injury for the Vikings, who fell behind 14-0 and 24-14.

COLTS 20, CHIEFS 17

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)

— Matt Ryan threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to rookie Jelani Woods with 24 seconds left to give Indi anapolis the comeback win over Kansas City.

Ryan earned his first win with the Colts in their home opener by hooking up with Woods for both Indianapolis touchdowns, one week after they were shut out at Jacksonville.

It took a 16-play, 76-yard drive — aided by a per sonal foul call on Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones following a thirddown sack — for Indy (1-1-1) to snap a four-game winless streak.

The Colts sealed it with Rodney McLeod Jr.’s inter ception with 2 seconds to play.

Ryan finished 27 of 37 for 222 yards. He was sacked five times and lost two fumbles.

Patrick Mahomes fell to 13-3 in September while going 20 of 35 for 262 yards, one TD and his first interception of the season for the Chiefs (2-1).

PANTHERS 22, SAINTS 14

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Laviska Shenault caught a 67-yard touch down pass from Baker Mayfield, Marquis Haynes returned a fumble 44 yards for a touchdown and Caro lina beat New Orleans to snap a nine-game losing streak.

Mayfield threw for 170 yards and Christian McCaffrey ran for 108 as the Panthers (1-2) won at home for the first time since beating the Saints 26-7 September 19, 2021.

Jameis Winston, play ing with an injured back, completed 25 of 41 passes for 353 yards with a touchdown and two inter ceptions, while rookie Chris Olave had nine catches for 147 yards for

Johnson’s Lady Truckers. The Wildcats completed the sweep on Saturday night at the Banker’s Field 17-6 thrashing after stop ping the Lady Truckers 13-3 in the opener on Thursday night.

Now they await the winner of the series against the RAB Oper ators and the University of the Bahamas Mingoes.

“It was awesome. It was great, but we still could take it up another level,” said Stevens, after she con tributed her share of the spoils with a four-hitter and seven strike out performance on the mound.

Offensively, she also did her damage going 1-for-4 with two runs batted in (RBI) and two scores, highlighted by a two-run

KIPCHOGE

Conditions in the German capi tal were ideal for fast racing – cool, around 52 degrees (11 degrees Celsius) after a night of showers, with no more precipitation and no wind.

Some 45,527 runners from 157 nations were registered to take part in the first Berlin Marathon without restrictions since the coronavirus pandemic began. Par ticipant numbers were reduced by

1:30 remaining. It was the fourth time in Smith’s career topping 300 yards passing and the first since the 2014 season.

BENGALS 27, JETS 12 EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Joe Burrow threw three touchdown passes and Cincinnati rolled past New York for its first win of the season.

After a pair of threepoint losses, the Bengals (1-2) came out aggres sive against the Jets, who fell flat after a stunning comeback win last week at Cleveland.

Burrow finished 23 of 36 for 275 yards with TD throws to Samaje Perine, Tyler Boyd and Ja’Marr Chase.

TRACK BODY ACTS ON SUSPECTED SYSTEMATIC CHEATING IN RESULTS

(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

a Saints wide receiver corps that lost Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry and Tre’Quan Smith to injuries in the second half.

EAGLES 24, COMMANDERS 8 LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — DeVonta Smith caught eight passes from Jalen Hurts for a career-high 169 yards and a touchdown, Carson Wentz flopped in his first game against the team that drafted him and Philadelphia routed Washington.

Smith made acrobatic catches along the sideline and to the edge of the end zone for respective gains of 45 and 44 yards, and hauled in a TD pass on fourth down to end the first half with no time left on the clock.

His 156 yards were the most by an Eagles player in a half since Kevin Curtis in 2007. And Smith was just one part of another clinical offensive performance by Philadelphia (3-0).

Hurts was 22 of 35 for 340 yards and three touch down passes, one each to Smith, A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert.

RAMS 20, CARDINALS 12 GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Matthew Stafford threw for 249 yards, Cam Akers and Cooper Kupp both scored touchdowns and Los Angeles used a stellar defensive effort to beat Arizona.

The Rams (2-1) contin ued their dominance in the series of NFC West rivals, winning 11 of the past 12 games dating to 2017, including last year’s 34-11 win in the playoffs.

Aaron Donald had a sack and two tackles for loss while Jalen Ramsey added two passes defended and a tackle for loss. The Rams gave up 365 total yards but limited the Car dinals (1-2) to four field goals.

Arizona’s Kyler Murray was 37-of-58 passing for

in-the-park home run in the top of the fourth.

“I almost cleared the fence (in centre field), but I could live with that,” Stevens said. “More to come.”

More could only come in the finals when they face either the Operators or the Mingoes. The Operators took a 1-0 lead in their series on Friday with an 11-7 win and will play game two on Thurs day. “It doesn’t matter,” said Stevens when asked who they prefer to face. “Like I tell them, my motto is ‘any nine would do.’ Just bring them on.”

Sunshine Auto, managed by Anthony Bullard, showed by their hit parade in the clincher on Saturday that they are ready for whoever they face.

Second sacker Crystal Taylor was 2-for-5 with three RBI and

nearly half under strict restrictions last year, and the 2020 race was called off due to the pandemic.

Kipchoge set off at a furious pace yesterday, covering the first 10 kilometres in just 28:23 and clocking 42:32 at the 15k-mark, hinting at a sub two-hour attempt.

He broke the two-hour barrier in Vienna in 2019 when he ran 1:59:40 in a race that did not con form to regulations.

Defending champion Guye Adola and Ethiopian compa triot Andamlak Belihu managed

314 yards. Marquise Brown caught 14 passes for 140 yards. The Cardinals have lost seven of nine games dating to last season.

JAGUARS 38, CHARGERS 10 INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Trevor Lawrence threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns, James Robinson rushed for 100 yards and a TD and Jack sonville beat ailing Justin Herbert and Los Angeles.

The Jaguars snapped an 18-game road losing streak, which was tied for the eighth-longest in league history. The Jags won in the Pacific time zone for the fourth time in 19 trips and beat the Bolts on the road for the first time in six tries.

Herbert started after being listed as questionable all week with a rib injury. The third-year quarter back passed for 297 yards but turned it over twice, finishing 25 of 45 with a touchdown.

FALCONS 27, SEAHAWKS 23 SEATTLE (AP) — Cordarrelle Patterson rushed for a career-high 141 yards and a touch down, Marcus Mariota threw a 14-yard TD to rookie Drake London in the second half, and Atlanta beat Seattle.

Patterson rumbled for 107 yards in the second half and the Falcons (1-2) avoided their second 0-3 start in three seasons. His 17-yard touchdown run in the second quarter gave Atlanta a 17-10 lead.

Mariota was 13 of 20 passing for 223 yards and his touchdown throw to London in the closing sec onds of the third quarter gave Atlanta the lead for good.

Geno Smith threw for 325 yards and two touch downs for Seattle (1-2), but was intercepted by Richie Grant on a des peration fourth-and-18 from the Atlanta 38 with

three runs scored; third sacker Ciara Bowe was 2-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored; short stop Larikah Russell was also 2-for-5 with three runs and center fielder Tyrice Davis was 2-for-5 as well with a RBI and a run scored.

Vintage Ernestine Stubbs, who was assisting manager Sydney ‘Baylor’ Fernander in coaching, came out of retirement and gave up 12 hits with a pair of strike outs for the loss. Second sacker Amar iage Taylor was 1-for-1 with a RBI and two runs scored and left fielder April Davis was 1-for-3 with a RBI and a run scored to lead the Lady Truckers’ offensive attack.

Operators 11, Mingoes 7

Designated player Michelle Thompson was a perfect 4-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored and third sacker Melinda Bastian

to keep pace, initially, but Adola dropped back a few metres as Kipchoge was clocking kilometresplits of between 2:47 and 2:50.

Kipchoge and Belihu completed the half marathon in just 59:51. Adola and Kenyan runners Abel Kipchumba, Mark Korir and Beth wel Yegon followed in 1:01:25.

“I planned to go out fast in the first half,” Kipchoge said.

The last pacemaker dropped off at the 25k-mark, leaving Kipchoge on his own, but Belihu remained on his heels.

Joe Flacco struggled in what will likely be his final start with the injured Zach Wilson expected to return next week for the Jets (1-2). He was 28 of 52 for 285 yards and two inter ceptions, and was under pressure all game.

BEARS 23, TEXANS 20 CHICAGO (AP) — Roquan Smith set up Cairo Santos’ game-ending field goal when he intercepted Davis Mills deep in Hou ston territory, and Chicago beat former coach Lovie Smith and Houston.

Khalil Herbert ran for a career-high 157 yards and two touchdowns for Chicago.

The Texans had thirdand-1 at their 26 when defensive tackle Angelo Blackson tipped a pass intended for Rex Burk head. Smith intercepted it at the 30 and returned it to the 12.

Chicago (2-1) had Her bert run, then downed the ball twice before Santos nailed a 30-yarder as time expired.

Justin Fields had another difficult game, and Bears running back David Mont gomery exited early with knee and ankle injuries.

TITANS 24, RAIDERS 22 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ryan Tannehill threw for 264 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score and Tennes see never trailed against Las Vegas.

Derrick Henry ran for 85 yards and a touchdown. Henry added 58 yards receiving as the Titans (1-2) avoided their worst start since they went 0-6 in 2009.

The Raiders (0-3) are off to their worst start since 2018. Two-time AllPro safety Kevin Byard celebrated his 100th regu lar-season game by picking off a pass by Derek Carr in the end zone with 9:22 left.

Carr was 26 of 44 for 303 yards and two touchdowns. Hollins finished with eight catches for 158 yards.

was also perfect, going 3-for-3 with four RBI and two runs scored.

Diva Burrows got the win on the mound and Ramona Hanna was tagged with the loss.

Second sacker Kericka Kelly was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored for the University of the Bahamas.

Wildcats 13, Lady Truckers 3 Shortstop Larikah Russell went 2-for-2 with a RBI and three runs scored to pace Sunshine Auto in their opener on Thursday.

Winning pitcher Thela Johnson was 1-for-3 with a RBI and two runs scored, while tossing a onehitter with six strike outs on the mound.

Third sacker Ciara Bowe helped out going 1-for-2 with two RBI and catcher Aaliyah Ferguson was 1-for-2 with two runs scored.

Kipchoge slowed somewhat in reaching the 30k-mark in 1:25:40. Belihu was unable to keep up and followed 21 seconds behind before dropping further back.

By this stage it was just a ques tion of whether Kipchoge would break his own record. He did.

Compatriot Mark Korir was second, nearly five minutes behind, followed by Ethiopian runner Tadu Abate. Belihu, who had stayed longest with Kipchoge, finished fourth in 2:06:40.

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer

GENEVA (AP) — The governing body of track and field acted Friday against suspected systematic cheat ing in qualifying events for the Tokyo Olympics and age manipulation of ath letes up to 20 years ago.

World Athletics said seven of its national mem bers agreed to be on a “manipulation watch list” and results from lower-level meets in those countries will not now be accepted. The countries on the list are Albania, Armenia, Geor gia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey, Uzbekistan.

The move follows an investigation of “17 reports of suspicious competition results” at events to get qualifying standards for last year’s Olympics last year, World Athletics said.

“The integrity of our sport is our highest priority at World Athletics,” fed eration president Sebastian Coe said in a statement. “Without it, we don’t have a sport.”

World Athletics said the federations identified as risks were cooperating and individual officials were not under suspicion.

Countries sending larger teams to the Olympics can also send more officials and be in line for a bigger share of money from the IOC’s broadcasting and sponsor ship income.

A separate investiga tion into falsified ages of athletes at age-group cham pionships has led to three medals being reallocated, World Athletics said.

Chinese athlete Shi Dongpeng was stripped of his silver medal in 110-metre hurdles at the 2002 world junior cham pionships. Shi went on to compete at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics but did not reach either final in his event.

Saudi Arabian long jumper Ahmed Nezar H Al-Sharfa was stripped of a bronze medal from the 2003 world youth championships. The country’s men’s medley relay team was also disqual ified from the 2005 world youth championships.

Upgraded medals in those events will be awarded to athletes from the Bahamas, Jamaica and South Africa, World Ath letics said.

The stripped medals were among 11 cases at champi onships held between 2001 and 2013 that were inves tigated by the Athletics Integrity Unit. Nine were overage athletes with falsi fied entries, including five from Saudi Arabia, and two underage athletes.

“While this step has corrected some historic wrongs, age manipulation continues to be a concern in athletics, and the AIU is actively investigating more recent allegations of this nature,” AIU chairman David Howman said.

Age manipulation in international sports has been a long-standing problem.

FIFA acknowledged in 2010 that cheating with overage players has been widespread in youth teams from Africa. Years after the 2000 Sydney Olympics, China was stripped of a bronze medal in women’s team all-around because of an underage athlete.

MIAMI Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) gestures to fans at the end of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills yes terday.

Young stars emerge at inaugural Frederick Sturrup Boxing Show

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE inaugural Frederick Sturrup Boxing Show on Saturday night saw a brief relief of Meacher ‘Major Pain’ Major, a full recovery of Tyrone Oliver and the emergence of some bright young stars, led by Maleko Davis.

The show, hosted by Major Pain Boxing Club at the National Boxing Gym nasium, was designed to honour Sturrup for his lon gevity as an administrator in the sport and to showcase some of the local amateur talent in the country.

Major, a former amateur and professional champion, also took the opportunity to display some of his past skills in the ring in a threeround exhibition bout with Anthony “Psycho’ Woods, while Oliver connected with Ronald Johnson in another exhibition.

Back for the first time in the ring in three and-ahalf years since he moved to Buffalo, New York, to enjoy his retirement, Major said he got a good return to the ring as Woods greeted him with a right to the head that rocked him early in the first round.

“That was what I needed.

After that punch, my instincts started to kick in. Is this an exhibition or a fight,” Major said. “I was just happy that it was an exhibition because Psycho always brings that energy. He’s always in the gym training. That’s why I chose him because he’s always going to entertain the fans.”

Woods, 35, said he stays ready for whenever he gets the call to get back in the ring.

“I wasn’t tired, but I tried to come out early and take it to him because I knew Meacher still had it in him,” Woods said. “I came to fight, but I knew I was going to need all of my energy to be in the fight. It was a good one.”

The show was a dual purpose for the 39-yearold Major, who has put his name in the hat for the

presidency of the Bahamas Amateur Boxing Federa tion whenever the elections take place this year. He said his goal was to provide an opportunity to help revive the sport and, at the same time, honour one of the stalwarts in Sturrup, who has been a big supporter of him and a number of boxers throughout their careers.

“I appreciate the honour. I think Meacher Major and his associates have done a wonderful job for me,” said Sturrup, a renowned jour nalist now operating out of Grand Bahama. “It’s been a very long journey for me from 1968 to now.”

“We started this ama teur boxing programme in 1968 with seven guys. The thrust behind it all was Bert Perry and Charlie Major Sr. Unfortunately, only myself and Amos Ferguson out of the group are alive, so it’s very nostalgic for me.”

Sturrup, who also now serves as the chairman of the Bahamas Boxing Commission, said he’s still pleased to see people like Major, Reno Johnson, Vincent Strachan, Alvin Sargent and Pat ‘the Cen treville Assassin’ Strachan still actively involved in the sport. “While I really appreciate this gesture, it’s always good when people compliment you, but it’s always equally important when you see the continua tion of the sport and people who are still waiting to take boxing into the future.”

After a two-year hiatus coming off a near lifeending stabbing injury, Oliver was listed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the top boxers to watch in the future.

He said he was just delighted to be able to do what he loves doing and that is box.

He put on an exhibition show against Ronald John son, but said it was all about displaying his talent once gain.

“I didn’t know how my career would turn after the stabbing,” said Oliver, who is now working in Exuma. “It was a major turnaround and I think it was my faith

in God that made the dif ference in me being out here again.”

Maleko Davis, a 17-yearold student at the Bahamas Vocational and Technical Institute, was so impressive against Lavardo Collie of the South Side Boxing Club that he earned him the most valuable boxer of the show.

He said his goal is to become the next best fighter to come out of Kemp Road after his idol Major.

“I am trying to every day, so whoever comes in the

ring, I am going to keep knocking them down,” said Davis, who remains unde feated at 15-0.

“This was a tough com petitor. I didn’t knock him down, but I am just waiting on the next fighter.”

South Side Boxing Club’s Brandon Johnson Jr, the son of Brandon Johnson Sr and nephew of Taureano ‘Reno’ Johnson, was named the most Improved Boxer after he stopped Bimini’s Aladdin Ellis in the first round.

“It was a very wonderful opportunity to step into the ring. There’s a lot of things I want to show the Bahamian people,” said the 14-yearold light heavyweight who is in the ninth grade at CV Bethel Senior High.

“Hopefully one day I can turn pro and represent the Bahamas and show them that Warriors come from the Bahamas.

“It wasn’t really a chal lenge for me. I appreciate my daddy and my coaches and everybody who came out and supported me and even those people who didn’t support me. The one person who made this possible was God and so I want to thank my daddy,

Brandon Johnson Sr for his support.”

Michael Stubbs, an 18-year-old graduate from CV Bethel who is also from South Side Boxing Club, made a successful debut with his win over Chris Larimore from Major Pain Boxing Club. Stubbs said he only accepted the challenge in a two-day notice.

“I figured I could have done better, but next time I will be much more pre pared,” said Stubbs. “I have to work on everything, so I’m going back into the gym and get better. I could have finished the fight in the first round. I am happy that I won.”

Also, John Saint Surin of Major Pain shocked Eric Williams of After Shock Boxing Club in an thrilling heavyweight bout to end the night.

Major thanked former boxer Alpachino Allen and Kato Ferguson, another outstanding former ama teur/pro fighter, for organising the show and keeping his Major Pain Boxing Club alive in his absence.

Ferguson also honoured his mother on her birthday Saturday night.

Pride on the line as England hosts Germany in WCup warmup

By CIARÁN FAHEY AP Sports Writer

BERLIN (AP) — Two teams with battered pride face each other at Wembley Stadium today as England hosts Germany for a World Cup audition in the Nations League.

England is already cer tain to finish bottom of Group A3 and drop out of the top tier of the Nations League after losing to Italy on Friday.

Germany can no longer reach the Final Four tour nament following its defeat at home to Hungary.

That loss brought an end to Hansi Flick’s unbeaten run as Germany coach since taking over from Joachim Löw in July last year, and also shone a harsh light on his record so far.

Germany defeated Italy 5-2 in its previous match in June, but it was the team’s only win from its last six games. It didn’t manage to avoid conceding in any of those matches.

Adding to Germany’s worry is the sense that Bayern Munich’s loss of form in the Bundesliga has spread to the national team, where the likes of Thomas Müller and Serge Gnabry in particular failed to spark against Hungary. Gnabry was hauled off at halftime.

Bayern captain Manuel Neuer and midfielder Leon Goretzka missed the 1-0

loss in Leipzig due to coro navirus infections.

Old doubts about the team’s capability are resur facing two months before the World Cup begins in Qatar, even if Germany sports director Oliver Bier hoff insists the aim is still to win the tournament.

“The goal stays,” Bier hoff said after the loss to Hungary. “OK, after this game, what can you say? But we start the (World Cup) tournament at zero.”

Bierhoff sees today’s game as a chance of redemption, an opportu nity to forget the loss to Hungary and atone for the defeat to England on Ger many’s previous visit to Wembley – a 2-0 loss in the round of 16 of the Euro pean Championship. That ended Löw’s 15-year tenure of the team.

“We want to make amends, to find our game and gain confidence,” Bierhoff said. “We have to believe more in our selves. And a game like that against Hungary doesn’t help. We have to make sure that we stand up to the English and implement the things that the coach demands.”

Flick was keen this week end to take the pressure off his players, saying he was also at fault for not finding the right setup for Hungary. He’ll have to make changes in London with Antonio

Rüdiger suspended. Borus sia Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck is likely to come in for the Real Madrid defender in one of several changes at the back.

Thilo Kehrer and Robin Gosens could replace the ineffective Jonas Hofmann and David Raum. Flick also needs to answer ques tions in offence, with Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz threatening to start in place of two from Timo Werner, Leroy Sané, Müller or

Gnabry. England counter part Gareth Southgate is under even more pressure after five games without a win – the team’s worst run in eight years.

England hasn’t scored a goal from open play in 495 minutes.

Southgate was asked if criticism of recent per formances had led to him doubting his ability.

“I’m fortunate that I’m now sadly in my 50s, I have been in football for

30 years and I have gone in one guise or another to 12 tournaments, working with these chaps, scouting — this will be my seventh as player or a coach, so I have seen pretty much everything,” Southgate said.

“The cycle of war with the media, the love-in — we are somewhere in the middle of that, it is an expe rience that I knew at some point would probably come with this job so I have to accept that.”

EVENEPOEL POWERS TO ROAD RACE GOLD AT CYCLING WORLDS

WOLLONGONG, Australia (AP) — A fortnight after becoming Belgium’s first Grand Tour winner in 44 years, Remco Evenepoel became his country’s first men’s elite road race world champion in a decade to cap his break through season.

Evenepoel won the Vuelta a Espana Grand Tour two weeks ago and was again dominant in yesterday’s 266.9-kilo metre race as he broke away with 25 kilometres left and powered to an emphatic win.

The 22-year-old spread his arms in celebration as he crossed the line on his own to as he became the first Belgian man since Philippe Gilbert in 2012 to win a cycling worlds road race.

French rider Chris tophe Laporte took second after winning the bunch sprint behind Evenepoel. Australian Michael Matthews won bronze as the chasing pack finished two min utes 21 seconds behind the Belgian.

The race featured 12 laps of a 17-kilometre finishing circuit at Wol longong, a coastal city south of Sydney.

Early breaks gained as much as eight minutes on the peloton, but they never looked threatening. Inside the last 40 kilometres the pace quickened and the front group started to pull away. On the second last lap Evenepoel and Kazakh rider Alexey Lut senko broke clear and built a small advantage.

The Belgian star, who earlier this season won the Liege-BastogneLiege one-day classic, pushed clear of Lutsenko on the second-last ascent of the tough Mt Pleasant climb and was never chal lenged on his way to a dominant victory.

Compatriot Wout Van Aert just missed out on the podium, finishing fourth.

Before the race news emerged that Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel, one of the title favour ites for the men’s race, had been arrested and charged by police for an alleged assault at the team’s hotel in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Police took van der Poel into custody after an incident at the team hotel involving an argument with two teenage girls as he was trying to sleep.

Van der Poel was cleared to start the race but pulled out shortly after.

On Saturday, 39-yearold Annemiek van Vleuten overcame an elbow fracture sustained three days earlier to win her second world road race title with an attack in the last 600 metres that caught the other eight leaders napping.

BELGIUM’s Remco Eve nepoel poses with his gold medal yesterday.

(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

ENGLAND’S JUDE BELLINGHAM, left, and England’s Harry Kane react at the end of the UEFA Na tions League soccer match between Italy and England at the San Siro stadium, in Milan, Italy, on Friday, September 23. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

FATHER and son Brandon Johnson Sr and Jr pose with brother and uncle Taureano Johnson.

SHOWN, from left to right, are runner-up Chris Larimore and champion Michael Stubbs with their awards.

‘PRIME TIAFOE LIFTS TEAM WORLD TO 1ST LAVER CUP WIN

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer

LONDON (AP) — The last to arrive, befitting his reputation in the locker room, Frances Tiafoe strut ted into the post-match news conference after clinching Team World’s Laver Cup victory over Roger Federer’s star-stud ded Team Europe and shouted, “Champs are here!”

Then the 24-year-old from Maryland joined his teammates at the table where the silver trophy was resting Sunday night, put down a bottle of water, pulled a Budweiser out of his red jacket and smiled that wide smile of his.

Performing with the same infectious showmanship and crunch-time success he displayed en route to his first Grand Slam semifi nal at the US Open earlier this month, Tiafoe staved off four match points and came back to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 1-6, 7-6 (11), 10-8,

giving Team World its first triumph in five editions of an event founded by Feder er’s management company.

“I don’t like losing,” said Federer, a 20-time major champion whose final match before retirement was a loss alongside Rafael Nadal in doubles against Tiafoe and Jack Sock on Friday night. “It’s not fun. It just leaves not the best taste.”

When Tsitsipas put a forehand into the net to end Sunday’s contest — and the three-day competition — Tiafoe dropped his racket and fell to his back on the court, where teammates piled atop him. After get ting on his feet, Tiafoe cupped a hand to his ear, asking spectators for more noise, then pointed to his chest and yelled, “I’m him! I’m him!”

“When it becomes a circus out here, and I’m just using the crowd and acting like a little kid and having a bunch of reactions ... I end up playing really well and

I start building momentum off it,” Tiafoe said. “I’m able to play and function in that better than my oppo nents, it seems.”

Using the nickname other players gave Tiafoe to reflect the way he embraces big moments, Team World captain John McEnroe said: “Frances is ‘Prime Time.’ He loves this stuff.”

McEnroe had been 0-4 while leading his squad against his former playing

rival, Team Europe captain Bjorn Borg; both indicated they would be back for the 2023 Laver Cup in Vancou ver, but that might be their last go-round.

This one served as a cel ebration of Federer and the 41-year-old Swiss star’s career.

Tiafoe responded with a quip when asked whether he might owe Federer some form of “I’m sorry” for beating him in his finale or for defeating his team, which also included Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray for a total of 66 major singles titles. That, incidentally, is 66 more than Team World, a collection of 20-somethings (Sock turned 30 on Saturday).

“”I’m not going to apolo gise to him. He’s got a lot to apologise for after the last 24 years — after beat ing everybody on the tour,” said Tiafoe, who went 0-3 against Federer in singles head-to-head. “I will say thank you for having me in this amazing event, what

he’s done for the game. He’s a class act. Happy to know him, happy to call him a friend, happy to call him a colleague, and best wishes in his second act. But I will not apologise.”

Team Europe entered Sunday at O2 Arena with an 8-4 lead; the first team to 13 points would win.

Each match on Day 3 was worth three points, and Team World went ahead thanks to a pair of victories by Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 22-year-old from Canada. He beat Djokovic 6-3, 7-6 (3), after partnering with Sock to edge Murray and Matteo Berrettini 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 in doubles.

Tiafoe then made it 13-8, but it wasn’t easy. He went a tournamentrecord 8-0 in tiebreakers at Flushing Meadows this month and was just as resil ient Sunday.

“It’s been a long time that Frances has been play ing the big guys close and losing a lot of close battles. It’s great to see lately he’s

Retired Roger Federer offers advice to Laver Cup teammates

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer

LONDON (AP) — Roger Federer’s tearful farewell to his playing career is over. True to his word, the 20-time Grand Slam champion did not say goodbye for good to tennis.

A day after heading into retirement with a Laver Cup doubles match along side longtime rival Rafaal Nadal — the pair sat crying, side by side, when it ended — Federer was back on the sideline Saturday, offering coaching tips during a vic tory by his Team Europe fill-in for singles, Matteo Berrettini, and chatting with Novak Djokovic during his first match in months.

“Having the chance to live what we lived yesterday is something that’s going to be stuck in my heart and my brain forever. I’m not lying when I say that I’m here because of him. Like, he was really the one that I was looking up to,” said Berret tini, a 26-year-old from Italy who was the runner-up to Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2021.

“If, a few years ago,” Berrettini said, “some one told me, ‘Look, you’re going to play Laver Cup, and Roger’s going to coach you,’ I would have been, like, ‘Yeah, right.’”

Federer is unsure of his exact plans for the future, but he did vow to remain a part of the sport, saying, “I won’t be a ghost.”

So how did Federer advise Berrettini as he was on the way to edging Team World’s Felix Auger-Alias sime 7-6 (11), 4-6, 10-7?

“Roger told me to hit my forehand decisively ... with more weight,” Berrettini said. “And to go down the line every so often with my backhand.”

Berrettini’s win in the opening match on Day 2 of

the three-day team event founded by Federer’s man agement company was followed by Team World’s Taylor Fritz beating Cam Norrie 6-1, 4-6, 10-8. Then came a 6-1, 6-3 win for Djokovic against Frances Tiafoe. And Djokovic and Berrettini paired up to close the evening with a 7-5, 6-2 doubles victory over Jack Sock and Alex de Minaur to give Team Europe an 8-4 lead heading into Sunday. The first squad to 13 points will win.

Djokovic paid tribute to Federer in both of his post-match interviews — jokingly asking the crowd at one point if they’d like to see the Swiss star play again — and called Friday’s last hurrah “one of the most

beautiful moments I’ve ever experienced in my life, for sure.”

Djokovic, who hadn’t competed since winning his 21st major trophy at Wimbledon in July, accu mulated 19 winners and just six unforced errors in what he described as a “pretty decent match” against Tiafoe.

The seats were less packed and the atmosphere was more subdued than the previous evening.

“It was just one of those things: You never really think he’s actually going to retire. So I think kind of the realization hitting everybody, like, ‘This is it’ ... was super emotional,” Fritz, a 24-year-old Califor nian, said about Federer,

who is 41. “See him crying. Hugged him. I said, ‘Thank you. Thanks, Roger. Thanks for everything.’ That got me going. Yeah, it was pretty tough to not be crying.”

Norrie also got help Saturday from Federer, who suggested trying to serve-and-volley on one particular point. Alas, while Norrie said it should have worked, it didn’t, because he flubbed the volley.

“If Roger Federer’s tell ing you to do something,” Norrie said, “there’s no way I’m not going to do it.”

Djokovic was in Berret tini’s ear earlier.

“Novak gave me very useful advice on the return,” Berrettini explained. “He told me to move back a little, because

at that moment, (AugerAliassime) was hitting serves that were bounc ing high, so I was a little uncomfortable.”

Like Federer, Nadal with drew from the Laver Cup following their doubles loss to the team of Tiafoe and Sock.

Nadal’s wife is sup posed to give birth to their first child soon, so Norrie stepped in as a replacement.

Nadal, who holds the men’s record of 22 major titles, has been dealing with injuries all season, including a torn abdominal muscle, but did not want to miss Federer’s final match.

“For me, it was impor tant,” Nadal said, “because I knew it was important to him.”

been winning,” said Taylor Fritz, an American who is the same age as Tiafoe and has known him for years. “It’s about time that he steps up and the matches go the other way. Today was a joke.”

That’s because Tiafoe was a single point from losing to Tsitsipas four times in their second-set tiebreaker, but somehow got through that. Then, at 4-all in the con cluding match tiebreaker — first to 10, win by two — Tiafoe sprinted from behind the baseline to near the net and barely got to a drop shot by Tsitsipas, somehow lunging to flick an angled winner.

While most of the 16,365 fans went wild, Tiafoe went around the net and stood still, hands on his hips, rel ishing the atmosphere.

“We put him in the slot that he was in today for a reason,” said Team World’s Tommy Paul, another 24-year-old American, “and he stepped up for us, big time.”

SAMSONOVA BEATS ZHENG TO WIN 3RD WTA TITLE IN TWO MONTHS

TOKYO (AP) —

Liudmila Samsonova of Russia extended a remarkable summer run by clinching her third title in two months after beating rising Chinese player Zheng Qinwen 7-5, 7-5 at the Toray Pan Pacific Open yesterday.

No. 30-ranked Samsonova won in Wash ington and Cleveland in August and also reached the fourth round of the US Open. The 23-yearold has now won 18 of her last 19 matches and didn’t drop a set in Tokyo.

“It’s amazing. I think I need a little bit of time to realise it, but it’s unbelievable,” Sam sonova said. “It was like a nervous match today. I was really prepared physically but I was tired mentally because I was playing singles and dou bles every day. I’m very happy with the way I managed the pressure.”

Samsonova added that the exclusion of Russian players from Wimbledon had helped her game though she stopped short of supporting the move.

“Wimbledon for me is the best tournament. I love it. The news really impacted me. I had one month without a tourna ment so I thought let’s work,” she said, adding: “I don’t agree that poli tics should be involved in sports because it’s unfair.”

The match between two power hitters with big serves was close throughout but Sam sonova was striking the ball cleaner and stronger.

Zheng, who ousted top-seeded Paula Badosa and No. 4-seeded Veron ika Kudermetova, was broken in the first set after giving up her first double fault on deuce in the 11th game.

By GREG BEACHAM Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP)

— Umar Kremlev will remain the president of the International Boxing Association after the ama teur sport’s governing body voted against holding a new election yesterday, a deci sion that puts the Olympic future of boxing in serious doubt.

The International Olym pic Committee issued a statement saying it was “extremely concerned” about the Olympic future of boxing after an IBA extraordinary congress overwhelmingly backed Kremlev during its meet ing in Yerevan, Armenia. The Russian was re-elected

in May after an opponent, Boris van der Vorst of the Netherlands, was barred from running against him.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in June that van der Vorst should have been eligible to run against Kremlev, but the IBA group still decided not to hold a new election.

The decision goes against the wishes of the IOC, which suspended the IBA (then known as AIBA) in 2019 after years of financial mismanagement and poor organisation.

The IOC ran the boxing tournament itself at Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and it plans to run a boxing tour nament at the Paris Games in 2024, keeping the IBA excluded. Boxing is not

currently on the Olympic programme for Los Ange les in 2028, and the IOC’s statement was the latest in months of suggestions that the decision could be permanent.

Boxing was an ancient Olympic sport that was first introduced to the modern games in 1904, and it has been included in every Olympic programme since 1920.

Kremlev has not taken a conciliatory tone toward the IOC’s demands.

In fact, he called for the IBA to become less Olym pic-focused in remarks after the decision yesterday.

“I am working for you, not a side organisation,” Kremlev said through a translator. “No one else

should have influence on the organisation.”

The IOC has been criti cal of the IBA’s governance under Kremlev, who was elected in December 2020. Kremlev addressed the IBA’s debt from years of sketchy financial dealings under former president Wu Ching-Kuo by inking a major sponsorship deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom. Van der Vorst was the preferred candi date of a group of largely Western nations who hoped to change the governing body’s direction in accord ance with the IOC’s wishes to improve its chances of staying on the Olympic programme.

USA Boxing and several other governing bodies

expressed their disappoint ment with the IBA this weekend after it declined to change course.

The IBA also suspended the Boxing Federation of Ukraine on Friday, prevent ing it from voting in the extraordinary congress.

Kremlev met with Rus sian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this month at the opening of a boxing centre.

The IBA cited “govern ment interference” as its reason for suspending the Ukrainian body a day after it wrote to the IBA mem bers calling for Kremlev to be voted out. The organi sation claimed it will still support the participation of Ukrainian boxers in IBA events.

Samsonova, who defeated Wimble don champion Elena Rybakina in the first round and former world No. 1 Garbine Muguruza in the quarterfinals, then sent a perfect forehand that landed in the righthand corner of the court to break the 19-year-old and go 6-5 up. She took the first set with another strong service game that included her third ace. Zheng was the first to crack in the second set when she handed Sam sonova free points with two double-faults in the fifth game.

A double-fault by the Russian saw her drop to 0-40 in the next game and the No. 36-ranked Chi nese broke back to level at 3-3.

AN EMOTIONAL Roger Federer, left, of Team Europe sits alongside his playing partner Rafael Nadal after their Laver Cup doubles match against Team World’s Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe at the O2 arena in London, Friday, September 23. Federer’s losing doubles match with Nadal marked the end of an illustrious career that included 20 Grand Slam titles and a role as a statesman for tennis. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

TEAM World’s Frances Tiafoe gestures during his singles tennis match against Team Europe’s Stefanos Tsitsipas yesterday.

(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Royals rally for 11 runs in sixth, beat Mariners 13-12

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Luis Castillo, fresh off signing a rich contract with Seattle, got chased as the Kansas City Royals erupted for 11 runs in the sixth inning and a wild, 13-12 win yesterday that cost the Mariners a chance to move up in the AL wildcard standings.

Mitch Haniger singled twice during an eight-run fifth for the Mariners, and they led 11-2 going into the bottom of the sixth. But Castillo struggled, and Michael Massey homered and drove in four runs during the Royals’ biggest inning since 2004.

BRAVES 8, PHILLIES 7 (11 INNINGS)

PHILADELPHIA (AP)

— Ronald Acuña singled home the go-ahead run in the 11th inning and the Atlanta Braves stayed close in the NL East race.

The Braves split the fourgame series and remained 1 1/2 games behind the division-leading New York Mets. They’ll play three games next weekend in Atlanta, with the Mets needing one win to secure the tiebreaker advantage of head-to-head wins.

GUARDIANS 10, RANGERS 4

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Cleveland has another new name this year: AL Central champions.

Four of rookie Steven Kwan’s career-high five RBIs came on his first career grand slam in the eighth inning and Aaron Civale allowed two runs on three hits in five innings. They clinched the divi sion title about 15 minutes before their game ended, when the second-place Chicago White Sox lost to Detroit.

GIANTS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 2

PHOENIX (AP) —

Pinch-hitter Evan Longoria had a go-ahead, two-run single in the eighth inning to lead San Francisco.

Brandon Crawford led off the Giants eighth with a single against Luis Frias (1-1) and advanced to second on Cooper Hum mel’s passed ball. One out later, Jason Vosler walked, and another passed ball moved the runners to second and third.

ASTROS 6, ORIOLES 3 (11 INNINGS)

BALTIMORE (AP) — Christian Vazquez hit a bases-loaded single to cap a four-run 11th inning for Houston.

The Orioles’ postseason hopes took another blow, missing a chance to move up in the AL wild-card standings. They remained four games behind Seattle for the third and final spot.

Houston ended the regu lar season 51-30 on the road. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers (52-26) will finish with a better mark. The Astros salvaged the last two games of this series after Baltimore shut them down in the first two.

REDS 2, BREWERS 1

CINCINNATI (AP)

— Spencer Steer hit a goahead home run in the eighth, and Nick Lodolo pitched six strong innings to lead Cincinnati.

Hunter Renfroe homered for the Brewers, who were unable to complete their first four-game sweep of the Reds since 2003. Freddy Peralta, who hadn’t pitched since Sept. 8 due to right shoulder inflammation, pitched two innings before giving way to Aaron Ashby.

CUBS 8, PIRATES 3

PITTSBURGH (AP)

— Patrick Wisdom hit a three-run homer, Adrian Sampson tossed six efficient innings and Chicago beat Pittsburgh.

Wisdom took the first pitch he saw from reliever Manny Bañuelos and sent it into the Pirates bullpen well behind the center-field wall with two outs in the fifth. Wisdom became the fourth Cubs third baseman to reach the 25 home runplateau in multiple seasons, joining Hall of Famer Ron Santo, Aramis Ramirez and Kris Bryant.

ANGELS 10, TWINS 3

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) —

Mike Trout had three hits, including his 37th homer of the season, and Los Ange les beat Minnesota.

Trout also doubled twice, walked and scored three runs. Shohei Ohtani had two hits, including an RBI single in the ninth that keyed a five-run rally that broke open the game.

José Suarez (7-8) earned the win, allowing two runs on eight hits with six strike outs over 5 2/3 innings.

Cards’ Pujols hits 700th home run, 4th player to reach mark

By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) —

Albert Pujols seemed like a long shot in early August to reach 700 home runs, still more than a dozen swings from the hallowed mark and his power stroke all but gone. Or so it appeared.

Now showing the pop of his youth in the final weeks of his career, the 42-yearold slugger got there with two long shots.

Pujols hit his 700th home run, connecting for his second drive of the game and becoming the fourth player in major league history to make it to the milestone as the St. Louis Cardinals routed the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-0 Friday night.

Pujols joined Barry Bonds (762 homers), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe

MARIJUANA

GENEVA (AP) —

Marijuana use will remain banned at sports events after the World AntiDoping Agency on Friday resisted calls to change its status on the list of prohib ited substances.

The agency was asked to review the status of THC — the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis — after the case of United States sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, who did not go to the Tokyo Olympics last year.

She served a one-month ban after testing positive

Ruth (714) in one of base ball’s most exclusive clubs.

“Don’t get me wrong, I know where my places stand in this game, but since Day One when I made my debut, I was never about numbers, never about chas ing numbers,” Pujols said. “It was always about win ning championships and tried to get better in these games.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gladly gushed about Pujols’ accomplishment.

“This is like the Mount Rushmore of sluggers, so to reach that 700-home run mark, it’s remarkable,” Roberts said.

A man wearing a blue Dodgers shirt with Hideo Nomo’s No. 16 on the back snagged the 700th homer ball. He was whisked under the stands as he clutched a black glove containing the

historic souvenir ball to his chest. Prolonged nego tiations went on before the man was escorted out of Dodger Stadium flanked by 10 security personnel and into a waiting SUV.

“Souvenirs are for the fans,” Pujols said. “I don’t have any problem if they want to keep it. That’s why the fans come here, to have a special moment of history.”

Stirring up images of his dominant days as a threetime NL MVP, Pujols hit No. 699 in the third inning, then launched No. 700 in the fourth.

A 37-year-old Los Ange les man, Cesar Soriano, snagged No. 699. He turned the ball over to security after being told he could meet Pujols. It’s been a remarkable and resurgent run for Pujols. This was his 14th home run since the

NATIONALS 6, MARLINS 1

MIAMI (AP) — Aníbal Sánchez threw five score less innings and Washington beat Miami hours after the Marlins announced man ager Don Mattingly won’t be back next season.

The 38-year-old Sánchez (3-6) gave up two hits, con tinuing a recent string of solid outings.

He walked two and struck out four, lowering his ERA to 1.31 in his last seven starts.

BLUE JAYS 7, RAYS 1 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — George Springer homered twice, Alejandro Kirk and Teoscar Hernán dez also went deep and Toronto earned a split of the four-game series.

Toronto (86-67) opened a two-game lead over Tampa Bay (84-69) for the top wild card with nine games left. Seattle (83-68) a half-game behind the Rays.

PADRES 13, ROCKIES 6

DENVER (AP) — Manny Machado and Brandon Drury hit backto-back home runs in a five-run eighth inning, Wil

Myers also went deep, and San Diego beat Colorado.

Jake Cronenworth tri pled and drove in three runs and Juan Soto, Jurickson Profar and Luis Campu sano had two hits each for the Padres. Robert Suárez (5-1) pitched one inning of relief for the win.

METS 13, ATHLETICS 4 OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)

— Pete Alonso homered, doubled and drove in five runs, Max Scherzer pitched six sharp innings and New York held its NL East lead.

The Mets remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta. New York has won eight of 10, and plays the Braves on the road next weekend in a three-game series.

DODGERS 4, CARDINALS 1 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Will Smith had two hits and Michael Grove pitched five solid innings to pick up his first career victory as Los Angeles clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the National League. Two days after reaching 700 home runs, Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols received a stand ing ovation when he was announced as a pinch-hit ter in the ninth inning and struck out.

TIGERS 4, WHITE SOX 1 CHICAGO (AP) — Dylan Cease pitched six scoreless innings, but the White Sox bullpen got tagged and Chicago was eliminated in the AL Central.

Jonathan Schoop hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth and Chicago’s sixth straight loss clinched the division for Cleveland. The Guardians held a big lead in the ninth inning of their game at Texas when the clinching became official.

SAINT-QUENTINEN-YVELINES, France (AP) — Guido Migliozzi won the French Open by one shot from Rasmus Hojgaard after a stun ning nine birdies saw the Italian tie the course record with a 9-under 62 in the final round yesterday.

It was the 25-year-old Migliozzi’s third Euro pean Tour win, his first for three years, and one he’ll remember a very long time.

When Migliozzi fin ished on 16-under 268, he was one shot ahead of Hojgaard, who had two holes left to play.

The 21-year-old Dane’s par on the 17th left him needing a birdie on the par-4 18th to force a playoff.

But Hojgaard, who had led since posting a superb 62 of his own in Thursday’s opening round, teed off into the rough. He landed his approach shot cleanly, but needed a 48-feet putt for birdie and fell 7 feet short to finish with a 3-under 68 for 15 under overall. It was a bitter end to the tournament for Hojgaard, given his round on Thursday and that he led by six strokes after the second round Frenchman Paul Barjon (70), South Afri can George Coetzee (71) and Belgian Thomas Pie ters (70) failed to apply pressure on a wide-open last day and finished four shots behind Hojgaard in a tie for third at 11 under.

Hojgaard held a slen der one-shot overnight lead from Coetzee after making a terrible start to Saturday’s third round and ending it with a 3-over 74. The damage was done in that round with a quintuple-bogey on the second hole.

at the national trials meet where she won the 100 metres. The sprinter said she had smoked marijuana as a way of coping with her mother’s death.

In a separate decision, the opiate tramadol will now be banned when ath letes are competing from January 2024, the WADA executive committee decided at a meeting in Sydney, Australia.

Athletes who use can nabis were consulted by WADA-appointed experts whose conclusions included

that it was “against the spirit of sport,” the agency said.

Positive tests for THC at races and events, though not in training, can there fore continue to trigger bans as short as one month.

The debate “is not straightforward,” WADA director general Olivier Niggli acknowledged Friday. “WADA is also mindful that the few requests for THC’s removal from the Prohibited List are not supported by the experts’ thorough review,”

start of August for the NL Central-leading Cardinals, and his 21st of the season.

Roberts marveled at the improbability in July of Pujols making history in late September. “I wouldn’t doubt him, but the stars seem to kind of have to align for it to play out like this,” Roberts said. “I don’t think Albert even thought it was a possibility.”

Now, no one needs to wonder whether Pujols would’ve come back for a few extra swings next year had he finished this season at 699 or so. Pujols took extra pleasure in making his mark at Dodger Stadium,

where he said he regained his joy for the game while with the Dodgers last season. “It’s pretty special, especially with the Dodg ers fans, to do it here,” Pujols said. “And, you get to see both sides, they get to enjoy this and to do it in a Cardinals uniform is really special.”

Pujols’ historic homer was a three-run shot against reliever Phil Bickford. The ball landed in the first couple rows of the left-field pavilion, the same location his two-run shot touched down the previous inning off left-hander Andrew Heaney.

But he cast those bad memories aside in style as he began his final round, sinking a birdie on hole No. 2 and an eagle — his first of the tournament — on the next. But he bogeyed Nos. 8 and 9 as Coetzee — a five-time European tour winner — moved level at 13 under.

Then it was Migliozzi’s turn to shine as he shot up the leaderboard with five consecutive birdies on Nos. 6-10 to move within one shot of the co-leaders at halfway, along with Barjon and Pieters.

Coetzee fell back after a triple bogey on the 15th, and Migliozzi’s incessant pressure finally got to Hojgaard.

The tournament was not played over the last two years due to the cor onavirus pandemic.

he said. “We are also con scious that the laws of many countries — as well as broad international regulatory laws and poli cies — support maintaining cannabis on the List at this time.”

WADA also noted the high threshold level to reg ister a positive test for THC which is “consistent with a significantly impaired ath lete or a frequent user.”

Tramadol has been an issue in cycling which outlawed its use at races starting in 2019.

After the Tour de France in July, Nairo Quintana was disqualified from sixth place when two samples showed traces of the syn thetic painkiller.

He was not banned and is challenging his disquali fication at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“Tramadol abuse, with its dose-dependent risks of physical dependence, opiate addiction and overdoses in the general population, is of concern and has led to it being a controlled drug in many

countries,” said WADA. The in-competition ban will be enforced in January 2024 giving time to educate athletes and team doctors and “address the safe use of tramadol for clinical pur poses,” WADA said.

The International Cycling Union’s medi cal rules state “commonly reported adverse side effects of tramadol are diz ziness, drowsiness and loss of attention, which are incompatible with competi tive cycling and endanger other competitors.”

fifth and with one out, Bethel was hit by pitch and caught a ride home on first baseman Anthony Moss’ RBI triple. Moss then scored their final run on a wild pitch.

Hitmen 12, Mighty Mitts 9 Second baseman Philip Johnson had a grand slam home run in the bottom of the seventh for a C&S walk-off victory in the opener of their series against Chances on Friday night.

Angelo Dillet started for Atlan tis and gave up seven hits and gave up eight runs before Gilbert relieved him in the fourth for three hits with strike out.

Johnson was named the MVP of the game, while right fielder Edron Knowles also came up big with a 3-for-4 night with four RBI and a run scored.

Shortstop Chedi Ferguson had a two-run double in the second and he scored two runs to pace the Mighty Mitts, who also got a 2-for-4 outing with a RBI and two runs scored from left field Juniel

Bain. While Martin Burrows Jr got the win on the mound, Kayle Carey was tagged with the loss.

Marlins 3, Titans 2 Third baseman Levaughn Fer guson and centre fielder Kristen Collie scored the tying and win ning runs respectively in the bottom of the seventh to seal the win for Cybertech. Centre fielder Lamar Watkins got on a one-out

error and scored on left fielder Angelo Watson’s two-out RBI single in the first inning.

Eugene Pratt fired a one-hitter with eight strike outs for the win.

Cardinal Gilbert got the loss on six hits with four strike outs.

Atlantis’ two runs came in the top of the sixth from centre fielder Anthony Fowler and left fielder Jeniel King.

ROYALS’ Kyle Isbel crosses the plate behind Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh to score on a single by Hunter Dozier during the sixth in ning against the Mariners yesterday in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/ Charlie Riedel)

CARDINALS designated hitter Albert Pujols (5) hits a home run during the fourth inning against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Friday, September 23. Brendan Donovan and Tommy Edman also scored. It was Pujols’ 700th career home run. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

TAKE FOULS, SCORE CHANGES WILL BE DIFFERENT IN NBA THIS YEAR

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

CHANGING the way the so-called “transition take fouls” are officiated this season won’t keep them out of the NBA game.

In fact, the league thinks that sort of play now may make the game better.

The long-awaited rule change — one of the points of education for the NBA going into this season — was a major talking point this week for referees, who gathered for their presea son meetings now that training camps around the league are about to open. There are other emphasis points, but the take-foul changes may be the most significant.

“Some of our best play at the NBA is defensive bas ketball. We don’t want to discourage that; in fact, we think this rule will encour age that because now we’re asking you to make a legiti mate play on the ball,” said Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s Senior Vice Presi dent overseeing referees and training. “From that standpoint, we think more exciting basketball is on the horizon and these transi tion scoring opportunities — both defensively and offensively —can be high light plays. We’ve lost some of that and we think this rule is going to inject that exciting play back into our game.”

The take foul — in which the defender does not make a play on the ball — is what the league clas sifies as one that occurs either “during a transi tion scoring opportunity or immediately following a change of possession and before the offensive team had the opportunity to advance the ball.”

The exception is in the final 2 minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime.

The new penalty for such a foul is one free throw, which may be attempted by any player on the offended team in the game at the time the foul was commit ted, along with continued possession by the offended team.

But the league also hopes that defenders making plays on the ball in those situa tions leads to exciting plays, whether the gamble leads to the offensive team get ting an easy score or results in the defensive team cash ing in a turnover.

“Our players and our coaches, they’re good at their jobs,” McCutchen said. “They’re good at their jobs, because they’re com mitted at their jobs. They absolutely will stop doing this if we’re consistent in our work, which I fully anticipate us being. They’ll then know how to coach it properly. And therein lies the glory of transition bas ketball being reinjected into our game.”

Clippers say Kawhi Leonard is cleared for 5-on-5 play

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

KAWHI Leonard has been cleared for 5-on-5 basketball again, more than a year since his last NBA game.

Los Angeles Clippers President Lawrence Frank said that the team will pro ceed with some caution with Leonard, the twotime NBA Finals MVP and five-time All-Star who tore the ACL in his right knee during the playoffs in June 2021.

Leonard missed the remainder of that postsea son, and the entirety of this past season.

“Well, I think, one, he feels great,” Frank told reporters in Los Angeles. “Two, his plan is, look, he wants to participate in everything. And I think, three, organisationally, we’re going to be cautious. So it will be a step-by-step approach.”

Leonard being cleared was expected, given how long he has been sidelined and the typical time it takes to recover from ACL sur gery. But it still is a major step for the Clippers, who believe they can contend for a championship this season if healthy.

“You want those expec tations,” Frank said. “Any

time you have a talented team, there should be expectations. You embrace them, and you always have to shoot for the highest goal. Our goal is not just to try to compete and win a championship this year, but be in the same position the following year and the fol lowing year after that.”

There was other positive injury news from Frank.

He said forward Paul George’s elbow injury — one that limited him to 31 games last season — is also a thing of the past.

Frank also said George was crucial to the Clip pers’ recruitment of former All-Star guard John Wall, who signed with the team with hopes of reviving his career after a long series of injuries.

Wall was selected for the All-Star Game in five consecutive seasons from 2014 through 2018, but has played in only 82 games since. He had surgery for bone spurs in his left heel, then tore his left Achilles tendon.

“Paul, his elbow is 100 percent healthy,” Frank said. “Paul has had an extremely purposeful, driven, and very produc tive offseason, in that his consistency of training has been off the charts. Plus, he continues to take more and

more of an ownership and leadership role.”

Leonard already has two championships — in 2014 with San Antonio, and in 2019 with Toronto. He was MVP in both of those title series.

The Clippers, though, are still chasing what would be the franchise’s first title.

(AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

The closest they’ve gotten was in 2021, when they made the Western Con ference finals for the first time.

But Leonard had gotten hurt in the previous series against Utah, and the Clip pers lost that West title matchup to Phoenix in six games. The Suns went on

to lose that season’s NBA Finals to Milwaukee.

“We all embrace the challenge but realise how fragile it is,” Frank said.

“All we have to do is go back two years ago to Kawhi’s injury against Utah. Kawhi was playing the best basketball of any player in the world. Our team was playing at a high level.

“Unfortunately for Kawhi and for the group, he got injured. I think with that, it reinforces the urgency you have to approach every single day. Nothing is guaranteed.”

The Clippers will hold their media day today, then travel to Las Vegas for the start of training camp on Tuesday. Their first presea son game — and possibly, Leonard’s first game action since those 2021 playoffs — is September 30, in Seattle, against Israeli club Mac cabi Ra’anana.

“Kawhi’s done a lot of controlled basketball for a long time,” Frank said.

“Though 5-on-5 is viewed to the layman as a benchmark, it’s more complicated than that. Ultimately, he keeps trend ing towards being able to play in an NBA basketball game, and so he’ll just con tinue to take those steps in camp.”

CELTICS: UDOKA SUSPENDED FOR ‘MULTIPLE’ POLICY VIOLATIONS

By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer

BOSTON (AP) — The reigning Eastern Confer ence champion Boston Celtics suspended coach Ime Udoka after a monthslong investigation by an outside law firm that found multiple violations of team policies but did not point to a larger cultural prob lem of sexual misconduct, owner Wyc Grousbeck said Friday.

“We go to great lengths ... to run the organisation with the central core value of respect and freedom in the workplace from harass ment or any unwelcome attention,” Grousbeck said at a news conference. “This feels very much, to me, like one of a kind. That’s my personal belief. But I’ll have to verify that.”

Neither Grousbeck nor president of basketball operations Brad Stevens would elaborate on the specifics of the violations or the private report that was delivered to the team two days ago. But a person with knowledge of the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the details were not made public, told The Associated Press that it involved an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the organisation.

Udoka’s multiple viola tions involved one woman, a Celtics spokesman said Friday. No one else in the organisation is facing dis cipline, Grousbeck said, adding that the team will be vigilant to make sure that Udoka’s actions aren’t a signal that there is a larger problem. “I personally

don’t believe that they’re a deeper signal,” Grous beck said. “But we will be — I will be, personally — talking to members of the organisation to make sure that that’s the case.”

A first-year coach who is three months removed from a trip to the NBA Finals, Udoka was sus pended less than a week before training camp was to open for a team consid ered among the favourites to win it all this season.

Assistant Joe Mazzulla was elevated to interim coach through June 30, 2023; the Celtics say they have not decided about Udoka’s future beyond then.

Stevens grew emotional when discussing the effect the scandal has had on the team — especially the women who were singled out on social media as

possibly being involved. The team reached out to employees to offer support.

“We have a lot of tal ented women in our organisation. I thought yesterday was really hard on them,” Stevens said.

“Nobody can control Twit ter speculation, rampant (expletive), but I do think that we as an organisation have a responsibility to make sure we’re there to support them now. Because a lot of people were dragged unfairly into that.”

Grousbeck said the team learned of the prob lem earlier this summer and immediately brought in an outside law firm to investigate. After receiv ing the report, Grousbeck met with Udoka and he expressed “acceptance and appreciation for how this has been handled.”

Grousbeck would not say whether the suspension was unpaid but confirmed that it comes with a “sig nificant financial penalty.”

A year-long suspen sion is uncommon but not unprecedented for a pro fessional sports coach, but the lack of public detail about Udoka’s behaviour has led some — includ ing Celtics Hall of Famer Paul Pierce — to question whether it was too severe.

Grousbeck disagreed, and noted that Udoka accepted the punishment and apologised.

“I personally feel that this is well-warranted and appropriate, backed by substantial research and evidence and facts,” the owner said. “It was clear that something substantial needed to be done. And it was.”

ALLEN HURT AS AUSTRALIA BEAT SERBIA 69-54

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer

SYDNEY (AP) — Bec Allen was instrumental in Australia’s 69-54 win over Serbia scoring 16 points yesterday in the World Cup. But her status for the rest of the tournament is in

question after getting hurt in the fourth quarter.

Allen was diving for a loose ball in front of the Australia bench when she took a knee to her midsection.

She was down on the court for a few minutes before she was helped off

by team trainers. She was later taken in a wheelchair to the back with about 20 seconds left in the game.

“We’ll have to wait for the doctor and see,” Australia coach Sandy Brondello said.

“It would be really unfortunate as she’s played really well for us and she’s a key member of our team,” she said.

Australia (2-1) avenged a loss to Serbia earlier in the year in a World Cup qualifier.

In other games yester day, France beat Mali 74-59 and Canada topped Japan 70-56.

CANADA 70, JAPAN 56

(AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

FROM PAGE 13

hook in his face toward the end of that round, Asakura went down again and was unable to get up.

“I don’t remember what hit,” Asakura said after the fight. “I have a huge headache.”

Mayweather has stood out among boxing champi ons in how he has leveraged his legacy toward financial success. What he did was easy, despite being jetlagged, he said.

“Boxing for me is like breathing,” Mayweather told reporters.

He stressed he knew when to retire while

remaining a big name in boxing. He was not interested in suffering physical hardships that may permanently damage his body, hinting opponents in exhibitions matches weren’t serious boxers.

“I retired for a reason,” he said. “Boxing is for a young man.”

Ringside seats at yester day’s event went for as high as 1 million yen ($7,000) each, drawing celebri ties like tennis star Naomi Osaka and Filipino former professional boxer Manny Pacquiao. The event was also live-streamed through various pay-per-view deals.

The fight was a collabora tion between Mayweather

Promotions, based in Las Vegas, and Japan’s Rizin Figthing Federation. There were no weight restrictions, and Mayweather’s bout was to last up to three rounds.

Mayweather said he wanted more collabora tions with Rizin, bringing such entertainment to the US. He has another exhibi tion fight in November in Dubai.

Last time Mayweather did an exhibition match in Japan, in 2019, he knocked out kickboxer Tenshin Nas ukawa even more quickly, in the first round. But that hasn’t hurt Nasukawa, still a star here, singing and danc ing in the half-time show of yesterday’s event.

The Opals jumped out to a 18-10 lead after one quar ter which delighted the pro-Australian crowd of 9,329 fans. Lauren Jackson scored five points in the period and the team played stellar defence, forcing Serbia into four shotclock violations.

Australia still led by eight at the half and started to pull away in the third quarter.

Sami Whitcomb, who added 10 points, had to briefly leave the game in the third quarter when she took a shot to the bridge of her nose, opening up a cut. She sat out for a few min utes while medics stopped the bleeding before return ing.Serbia never really threatened the rest of the way.

Yvonne Anderson scored 16 points to lead Serbia (1-2).

Bridget Carleton scored 19 points and Shay Colley added 13 to help Canada stay perfect in pool play and advance to the quarterfinals.

Canada (3-0) led 28-25 in the second quarter before scoring the final 13 points of the half to blow the game open. Colley had five points during the gamechanging run.

Every time Japan (1-2) tried to make a run in the second half, Canada would have an answer.

Japan, which won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, is in danger of missing the quar terfinals. Maki Takada scored 11 to lead Japan.

FRANCE 74, MALI 59

Gabby Williams scored 14 points and Alexia Char tereau added 12 to help

France beat Mali. France (2-1) got off to a slow start, trailing 21-17 after the first quarter.

Mali led 29-26 midway through the second period before the French closed the half on a 16-3 run.

Mali (0-3) was able to get within 65-57 midway through the fourth quar ter before Williams found Sarah Michel for a 3-pointer and France led by double-digits the rest of the way. Williams also had seven rebounds and six assists.

“They played really tough tonight,” Williams said. “It wasn’t as pretty a win as you wanted. They played really hard, but I’m proud of my team.”

Sika Kone led Mali (0-3) with 18 points and 18 rebounds, one short of the World Cup record held by three players, including US great Katrina McClain.

KAWHI Leonard stands on the sideline before an NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Sea hawks in Santa Clara, California. Leonard has been cleared for 5-on-5 basketball again, more than a year since his last NBA game.

AUSTRALIA’s Bec Allen is attended to by medical staff after an injury during their game at the women’s Basketball World Cup against Serbia in Sydney, Australia, yesterday.

(AP Photo/Mark Baker)

BOXER Floyd Mayweather of the US throws a punch against mixed martial artist Mikuru Asakura of Japan in Saitama, north of Tokyo, yes terday.

Miami Heat training camp at Baha Mar opens Tuesday

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

NBA training camps are set to tip off all across cities in the United States and the closest franchise to The Bahamas is set to host its camp in New Providence for the third time.

The Miami Heat’s training camp will open tomorrow at the Baha Mar resort and continue through October 1.

Presented by Baptist Health, the team will host two-a-day practice sessions and conclude with a prac tice session open to invited guests and local student athletes.

“We are honoured to be chosen as the host destina tion for The Miami HEAT 2022 Training Camp and thrilled to be entering a multi-year partnership with the three-time NBA cham pions,” said Graeme Davis, president of Baha Mar.

“A quick flight from Miami, Baha Mar is the leading Caribbean destina tion for world-class athletes and sporting events. We look forward to welcom ing the team for a week of training, coupled with the opportunity to explore the resort’s wide array of amenities, experiences, and world-class restaurants.”

Baha Mar has hosted several NBA franchises in recent years, including the Houston Rockets and Min nesota Timberwolves.

Media availability will take place following the first daily practice session only, with a viewing time updated each day.

The Heat first hosted a training camp in The Baha mas in 2013 when they were led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. They returned in 2016 with a core group led by Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic.

Team captain and Miami native, Udonis Haslem, will become the only member of

the Heat’s roster to partici pate in all three Bahamas training camps.

The veteran forward said he considers himself an “honorary Bahamian.”

“I enjoy it here. I enjoy the people. I enjoy the cul ture, the food. Everybody’s nice, the weather is great. There are a lot of Miami Heat fans here. It’s just like being home,” he said at the 2016 event, “vacation here all the time. I’m like an honorary Bahamian.”

Haslem returns to the Heat for his 20th and final NBA season after three titles with the franchise.

The previous two edi tions were hosted at the Atlantis resort and now the venue shifts to Baha Mar for 2022.

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said the franchise continues to return to The Bahamas because of its positive experiences.

“We love it here,” Spoelstra said.

“Our last experience here was terrific. We love how private it was. It’s a perfect setting for our guys in between the practices just to have a very serene atmosphere but also incred ible hospitality. The guys really enjoy it. There are great people here. We always see smiles every where you go. It makes the work that much easier.”

The Heat will host 20 players at this year’s train ing camp.

Outside of train ing camps, Heat players have made several highly publicised trips to The Bahamas, highlighted by Kyle Lowry hosting a “preplayoff” bonding session and Jimmy Butler’s viral workout videos at local locations such as the AF Adderley and CI Gibson gymnasiums.

The Heat opens their preseason against the Min nesota Timberwolves on October 4 and the regular season October 19 against the Chicago Bulls.