The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE goal was to get three medals, but Carl Hield was the only one of the three-member team from the Bahamas to win a medal at the XXII Central American and Caribbean Games last week in Veracruz, Mexico.

Hield, 28, returned home with a silver medal draped around his neck after he lost out to Cuba’s top ranked Roniel Iglesias 3-0 in the gold medal match in the men’s 69 kilogram-welterweight division. Iglesias is a two-time Olympic medallist, having won a bronze in Beijing, China in 2008 and gold in London in 2012. He also won the junior world title in 2006.

Hield’s silver was counted in the final tally of eight medals, inclusive of four gold from swimmer Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, two silver from swimmer Joanna Evans and a bronze from high jumper Ryan Ingraham that enabled the Bahamas to finish in eighth place.

It was the second time that the Bahamas got eighth place. The last time was 32 years ago in Havana, Cuba in 1982 at the XIV games in which Cora Hepburn, who served as the chef de mission in Veracruz, represented the Bahamas as an athlete, competing on the women’s volleyball team.

This is the second time that Hield has medalled, improving on the bronze he collected at the last games four years ago in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. But his two other team-mates Godfrey Strachan and Rashield Williams fell short in their opening matches.

“First of all, I want to give God thanks for giving me this opportunity. I also want to thank my teammates, my mom, my sister and everyone who helped with my training camp,” he said. “I went there in my mind that I had to get to the final and they made me fight for it. They put guys who they felt could beat me, like the guy who beat me in the qualifier from Guatemala. They wanted me to prove my point that I was the best. So I went out there and I did that to get into the final.”

In his opening match, Hield eliminated Lester Martiniez from Guatemala 3-0, then disposed of John Sanchez from Colombia in the quarter-final by the identical score and survived the semi-final with a 2-1 decision over Nicklaus Flaz from Puerto Rico. However, it was a different outcome against Iglesias as Hield got shut out 3-0.

“Everyone was prepared but I wanted it a little more,” Hield said. “In the final, I was looking for more from him, but he didn’t put out as I expected. I really thought I won the fight, but an underdog against a world and Olympic champion, I knew I had to win convincingly.”

But Hield said he can’t be disappointed in his performance because he ended the year on a high note, winning his third medal in four international competitions he participated in this year. He’s just hoping to build on that as he prepares for the 2015 season and the road to the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, in July.

Head coach Andre Seymour said Hield performed extremely well.

“From day one when he started to compete, once we got over Guatemala, we knew we were on our way to get a medal,” said Seymour, who was assisted by his cousin Floyd ‘Pretty Boy’ Seymour out of Washington DC. “The guy from Guatemala beat him in the qualifier for the games. So we knew we had to get past him first.

“I was really, really happy when he beat Guatemala. Then everything was in his favour from there. In the final, Carl performed extremely well against the world champion. He held his head up and went out there and followed instructions. He really made us proud.”

WILLIAMS

ELIMINATED FIRST

On November 22, Williams fought Danielito Zorrilla from Puerto Rico in the 64 kg-light welterweight division, but he lost 3-0.

“The guy was just on his game,” Williams said. “I went out there and tried my best, but I didn’t get through. But it was a good experience.”

When asked what he thinks went wrong, Williams quickly pointed out that “I was supposed to go out there and box the guy, but I tried to outslug him, which was not my style.”

If he had to do it all over again, Williams said he would change his style and stick to the game plan and that was to box.

Williams, 25, said he was excited for Hield because he felt he did a very good job in getting the medal.

STRACHAN

FOLLOWED

One day after Williams went down, Strachan suffered a 3-0 loss to Raul Sanchez from the Dominican Republic in the 75kg-middleweight division.

“The field was good. I went out there with the game plan that me and the coaches went over and I executed,” he said. “The judges saw it a different way and they gave it to my opponent.”

The 23-year-old Strachan admitted that he was disappointed, saying: “I trained hard for it. I really wanted to win a medal.”

Despite the loss, Strachan said he has learnt a lot from the exposure and he knows what he has to improve on in the future. He was just as elated as Williams in watching Hield clinch the medal.

“It was the same thing with his fight like mine. The judges saw it a different way. I felt that he won his fight,” Strachan said. “But he knew that it was going to be different fighting against the number one ranked boxer.”

Both Williams and Strachan are expected to return to Cuba in January to prepare for 2015 when they will have their first event at the Cup in Mexico in February.

SEYMOUR’S

ASSIGNMENT

Looking at the performances, Seymour said the experience was great.

“Like I told each of the boxers who didn’t come back with a medal, they competed against elite boxers at the games,” he said. “Anyone of them had an opportunity to win a medal and they went out there and they performed their very best among the best boxers in the region.

“Come next year, we will be very busy next year. We will head back to the Independent Cup in the Dominican Republic in February to start competing there. We will use that as a warm up for the first qualifier for the Pan American Games in March in Chile.

“So we are hoping that they can get through the first qualifier. If they don’t, then we will have to wait for the second qualifier.”

HIELD’S

ASSISTANCE

As he prepares for his future, Hield is making an appeal to the public to assist him with his training.

“I’m not looking for any money in my pocket. I just want some corporate sponsors to help me get some boxing gloves, head gear, vitamins and to travel to some of the competitions in Europe, Asia and Russia so I can get a better feel of the competition out there,” he said.

“My goal is to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games (in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016) and the only way to do it is to get as much exposure as I can competing against some of the best boxers in the world. So if any corporate sponsor wants to help out, please let me know.”

Interested persons can contact Hield’s sister, Carla, at 423-7944 or they can reach him in Cuba at 011-535-4246-907.