The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE WEEK THAT WAS

For six days, top athletes from more than 60 countries participated here in the sixth edition of the Olympic-style Commonwealth Youth Games.

The only problem was that there were hardly any Bahamians in the stands cheering for them or the local athletes, who competed in the nine different sporting disciplines. Some have suggested that there wasn’t sufficient marketing of the event, but I beg to differ.

I think all of the summer camps should have closed shop and brought their campers – especially with the entrance fee waived for those 18-and-under. There were just too many other activities taking place when the focus should have been on the games.

Despite the low turnout from the community, the Local Organising Committee, headed by Rommel Knowles, should be commended for putting on a first class sporting event – the first in the region since the Commonwealth Games was held in Kingston, Jamaica 50 years ago.

Visiting delegates and athletes were quite impressed with the set up at the Queen’s Elizabeth Sports Centre where they got to witness or participate in tennis at the National Tennis Centre, judo and boxing at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium, swimming at the Betty Kelly Swim Complex, athletics at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium and rugby at the original Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

At the Malcolm Beach Soccer facility, beach soccer and beach volleyball were contested, while cycling was staged at the Clifton Heritage Park.

For those who missed it, there was some top notch competition as countries such as England, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Canada, Northern Ireland, Wales, South Africa, Singapore, India and Kenya, to name a few, put on a show.

While England topped the final standings with 51 medals, inclusive of 23 gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze, the Bahamas had its best showing ever with one gold, two silver and 10 bronze for 13 medals and 16th place overall.

Not bad for a host country without a medal from any of the games held in the past.

Although many claimed that the $6.7 million it cost to put on the games might have been excessive, it was worth every penny as the Bahamas got to gauge its progress in a number of sports.

Judo by far had to be the biggest benefactors, having produced two bronze medalists in Karra Hanna and Mya Beneby.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment was in boxing, where the Bahamas was only able to field one boxer. Lennox Boyce, who is being groomed by Ray Minus Jr for the 2020 Olympic Games, had the country’s top three coaches in his corner in Minus Jr, Valentino Knowles and Andre Seymour.

It would have been good to see some of that energy exerted in getting a few more boxers, including a female competitor, into the ring.

When analysing the performances of Team Bahamas, the three medals in swimming – two from Izaak Bastian and one from Lilly Higgs, who just fell short of obtaining her second with a fourth place – must be commended.

However, the highlight was Denvaughn Whymns in athletics.

Coming off a long journey from Nairobi, Kenya with other members who participated in the IAAF World Under-18 Championships, Whymns had two subpar performances to land a pair of bronze medals – in the men’s 110m hurdles and the long jump.

But in the mixed 4 x 200m relay, he powered from third place behind two females to to surge ahead of the pack on the anchor leg and finally get the Bahamas on top of the podium with a gold.

An honorable mention also has to go to the men’s beach soccer team that clinched the bronze.

Kudos to the organisers, officials, volunteers and the fans, for a job well done, considering the Bahamas only agreed to host the event over a year ago after St Lucia had financial difficulties in hosting.

Belfast, Northern Ireland will host the seventh edition in 2021, although some are agitating for the event to be held every two years instead of the regular four.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The team numbers are still be finalised, but the focus of attention will now switch to London, England where the IAAF World Championships will get underway on Friday, August 4.

The Bahamas team is expected to head to the championships on Monday and, even though there are only eight athletes who have attained the qualifying standards, all four relay teams are expected to suit up.

So over the next few days we should see the team’s entry list swell to about 26-30 athletes, an average of what we normally carry with a few more individual qualifiers.

This has been an unusual year for the country as basically only three athletes – Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Steven Gardiner and Donald Thomas – have made any noise on the international scene.

But it could mean that if the right combinations are put together, the Bahamas could make its presence felt in the women’s 4 x100 and both the men and women’s 4 x 400m relays.

Although they qualified, the jury is still out on whether or not the men’s 4 x 100m team will actually travel after one its members tested positive for a banned substance during the World Relays.

If they don’t go, it will put a dampener on the team. In the meantime, the rest of our athletes will get a chance to travel to London well in advance of their preliminaries to concentrate on getting together as a team.

Of course, all eyes will be on Miller-Uibo, who will have a hard task of trying to accomplish the sprint double in the women’s 200 and 400m.