The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

It’s not how you start, nor how you get there. Most importantly, it’s how you finish.

• The Finish Line, a weekly column, seeks to comment on the state of affairs in the local sports scene, highlighting the highs and the lows, the thrills and the spills and the successes and failures.

The Week That Was

NOW with less than 100 days left before the start of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Bahamas Olympic Committee is vigorously trying to ensure that Team Bahamas is ready to compete.

The Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations has announced that there will be no teams competing this weekend at the Penn Relays Carnival in the match-up dubbed the showdown between the USA and the Rest of the World.

Here’s the explanation given by BAAA public relations officer Philip Gray:

“After careful consideration and consultation, it was concluded that it was not in the best interest of our country and impossible to field an adequate team due to the availability of our athletes and the recovery of others from injuries. The Bahamas’ legacy at these relays is well documented and must not be tarnished just to say we are in attendance.”

Gray further pointed out that alternate plans are already in motion for the best chance for their teams to qualify for the Olympics in August at other competitions. He revealed that details would be forthcoming.

In order for the relay teams to qualify, they have to go through one or two processes.

The first one is gone and only the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay team took advantage of it by placing in the top eight at the second IAAF World Relays at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium last year.

The other is to be invited by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) as the best ranked teams to fill the remaining quota places by event, according to the IAAF World Ranking List of July 12, based on the aggregate of the two fastest times achieved by national teams in the qualifying period.

For the results to be valid for qualification purposes, a minimum of two different international teams, representing at least two countries, must compete in the race. The IAAF will notify the National Olympic Committees of each of these national teams of their eligibility to compete in the Olympic Games relay competitions.

In other words, if the BAAA intends to have a lane in all four relays, the Bahamas must be in the top 16 spots between the periods of January 1, 2015 to July 11, 2016.

The BAAA has some work to do as neither the men’s or women’s 4 x 100m or the women’s 4 x 400m teams are among the top 16.

On Saturday in Philadelphia, the Bahamas would have had a golden opportunity to review its rivalry with the USA and Jamaica in the elite relays, but as indicated by Gray, the majority of the Bahamian athletes are not available to compete.

The Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, will be held simultaneously as Penn Relays and it appears that more of the athletes have opted to compete at Drake where it seems as if there is a little more at stake as far as the cash incentives from the individual events they will get to compete in.

With just about three months left before the deadline, the BAAA still has some time to assemble their teams to compete, but we will wait to see how it all unfolds.

At this stage in our development, there’s no reason why we should not be fielding all teams at this level.

It’s a pity that we maybe without the services of collegian Devynne Charlton, who suffered an injury and will be out of action for at least the next eight to 10 weeks.

The Purdue University junior was having a fantastic career, not just in her specialty in the 100m hurdles, but also as a sprinter and could have been considered for relay duties because of her speed.

We wish the 21-year-old a speedy recovery and while she will end up missing her debut at the Olympics in Rio, she still has a bright future ahead of her and I’m certain that she will bounce back and continue her quest to be one of the Bahamian elite athletes to watch in the future.

THE WEEK AHEAD

THIS is going to be a busy weekend with three major national competitions taking place.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Bahamas Football Association have jointly put together the inaugural National High School Soccer Tournament that will wrap up on Saturday at the Roscow Davies Playing Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

Due to financial constraints, only one male and female team have been brought in from Grand Bahama to compete against the New Providence teams from the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) and the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA).

There are some who are of the opinion that while the tournament is limited to just the senior division, the organisers should include the juniors moving forward.

Not a bad idea.

We’ve seen how the competition should be split with athletics as there are some schools that only compete in the junior divisions and there are those who only cater to the senior teams.

So there should not be any discrimination when it comes to the involvement of all of the schools at the national level.

Meanwhile, over at the DW Davis Gymnasium, the Bahamas Basketball Federation is staging its annual Bunny Levarity National Round Robin Tournament that also will run through Saturday.

The tournament, however, is limited to just the men’s A and B divisions and only three and five teams respectively have registered to participate.

Once again, the ladies’ programme is in limbo and, as a result, the New Providence Women’s Basketball Association’s champions Bommer G Lady Operators will not get a chance to prove their worth after going through the season undefeated.

Just as they look to increase the amount of teams participating in both the men’s A and B divisions, a little more concentration should be placed on reviving the ladies programme.

Outside of New Providence, sailing enthusiasts are in Georgetown, Exuma for the National Family Island Regatta. The country’s biggest island extravaganza will conclude on Saturday as well. At the same time, the sailing community is mourning the loss of colourful businessman Frank Hanna, who will be cremated following his funeral service 2pm Sunday at the Church of God Convention Centre, Joe Farrington Road.

The 79-year-old philanthropist has made a significant contribution to the growth and the development of many of the Family Island Regattas as well as the bone-fishing tournaments. The country and sports in general has indeed lost another giant of a man.

May his soul rest in peace.