The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Manager Ralf McKinney said he’s pleased with the make-up of the 35-member athletic team that has been ratified by the Bahamas Olympic Committee for the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, starting next week.

The team, released on Tuesday night, comprised of 18 men and 17 women, 10 of whom are waiting to be given the final approval from the Local Organising Committee for the games in Glasgow as a result of the late entry of names submitted to the BOC by the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations.

“We have a lot of veterans as well as newcomers to the Commonwealth Games team,” said McKinney, who has travelled to a number of international competitions as the team manager in the past. “We have people like Tamara Myers, Katrina Seymour, Cache Armbrister and Sheniqua Ferguson, all first time Commonwealth people.

“The males have a similar mixture of seasoned veterans as well as newcomers to the Commonwealth Games like Raymond Higgs, Lathone Minns, Shavez Hart, Teray Smith, Warren Fraser and Jamal Wilson. All in all, the team size this year is much bigger than the team that went to the last games in New Delhi, India in 2010.”

Two of the athletes McKinney mentioned, Fraser and Seymour, are among the list of athletes who are waiting for the final approval from the LOC in Glasgow. The others on the list are 100 metre hurdler Dennis Bain, long jumper Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands, quarter-milers Alonzo Russell, Andretti Bain and Lanece Clarke, 800m runner Teshon Adderley and 100m hurdlers Demetria Edgecombe and Crystal Bodie.

In trying to explain what exactly happened from the BAAA perspective, McKinney said that each year, depending on whether it’s the Olympics, Commonwealth or CAC, the organising committee asks each local organisation, from as far back as February each year, to submit the names of the potential team members, including their names, date of births and passport information.

“What we would do is submit the names of the top three athletes in each of the events and hopefully those are the people who would eventually make the team,” he said. “So when we have our trials in June, the people for the team should come from that pool.

“But occasionally, we have some athletes who compete in events out of their specialty like Leevan Sands, whom we had submitted for the triple jump, but he only competed in the long jump because of the injury he sustained at the Olympic Games in 2012. So that puts him in the same waiting stage. But hopefully everything will work out.”

Additionally this year, McKinney said they discovered three female hurdlers who live in the United States and they have been trying to get included on the team. But unfortunately, he said only Demetria Edgecombe meets the requirements right now and she is included on the team, but will have to wait for the final approval, along with Bodie for the 100m hurdles.

“At the Commonwealth Games, you must have the passport of the country that you are competing for. Demetria has her Bahamian passport so she was included. I suspect that by next year, we will have the other two sorted out in time so that they can compete at the World Championships because they are very good hurdlers.”

With the athletes ratified by the BOC, the Bahamas will be able to field teams in all four relays - men and women 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 metres - as well as in events from the 100 to 800 metres (latter female only) on the track and the long, triple and high jumps (latter men only).

“It’s interesting when you look at our major rivals in the Caribbean like Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago and you see the teams they field, a lot of people are coming up injured,” McKinney said. “We don’t have Ramon Miller who is still nursing a broken bone in his foot and Demetrius Pinder wasn’t satisfied with his fitness level and he decided that he wasn’t going to compete.

“At her last meet, Anthonique was holding her leg after her race. So we are hoping that she is okay and will be able to run.”

Despite the fact that it has been a tedious process for the athletes waiting for the list to be released, McKinney said all of the athletes have been training and are eager to go to Glasgow to compete. He noted that while Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown, Anthonique Strachan and Bianca ‘BB’ Stuart are all coming off recent performances in Europe, LaToy Williams and Cache Armbrister are both off to Madrid, Spain to compete before they join the team in Scotland.

Starting on Saturday through Monday, members of the team will be travelling from either the Bahamas - Nassau and Grand Bahama - or from their destinations in the United States. They are all expected to be in the Games Village in Glasgow before the opening ceremonies take place on July 23.

The athletic competition is scheduled to be held from Sunday, July 27 to Friday, August 1 at the Hampden Park. The Commonwealth Games will wrap up on Sunday, August 3.