The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE the concerns over the coronavirus, the Bahamas Bowling Federation has released the names of the bowlers selected to represent the Bahamas at a number of international tournaments this year.

The team selections were made following the completion of the Bahamas National Bowling Championships at Mario’s Bowling and Entertainment Center last weekend.

Janice Hoyte clinched her first ladies’ title as she dethroned Driskell Rolle, while David Slatter captured his fifth consecutive men’s title as he out-duelled Graham Higgs in the finals.

Federation president Tyrone Knowles Sr said they are quite pleased with the selection, which was straight forward, as a result of the performances produced during the nationals.

The first team to travel is the Central American and Caribbean Bowling Confederation CONCECABOL, scheduled for April 25 to May 2 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Making up the team are the following: David Slatter, Tyrone Knowles Sr, Kelsey Rolle, Mario Brown, Kevin Williams and Ricardo Rolle as senior men’ Ken Brathwaite, Gregory Taylor and Charles Johnson as super senior men; Janice Hoyte, Shanta Kerr-Richardson, Cheryl Bevans and Camille Burnside as senior women and Floridamae Wilson, Paula Harts and Cynthia Edgecombe as super senior women.

At present, there have been minimum cases of the coronavirus being spread in Mexico, so Knowles said the federation, like all the other local and international sporting federations, will continue to work closely with the various government agencies in monitoring the virus outbreak and will make a determination closer to the deadline date.

“We remain hopeful to date, given the minimum impact currently noted in Mexico,” he said. “So far, a total of two persons have been identified.”

Knowles Sr, however, said the concern would be more with the logistics in travelling to Mexico.

He said in checking on flights, they have been re-routed from here to Houston, Texas to Mexico, as opposed to going to Miami or Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Mexico.

Following that proposed trip, from August 16-23, another team comprising of these same players will travel to Cali, Colombia for the 2020 PANAM Bowling Senior and Super Senior Championships in Cali, Colombia.

That will be followed by the XVIII PANAM Bowling Adult Championships, set for September 26 to October 4 in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

Bowlers making up that team include Graham Higgs, Alcondo Hepburn, Derrick Burrows, Anthony Ingraham and Obinna Okpuna on the adult men’s team, while Driskell Rolle, Uchenna Delva, Micah Hepburn and Staniece Mortimer will make up the women’s squad.

There will be a roll-off for two other tournaments, the first one is the Canadian Tenpin Federation’s PANAM Champion of the Champions 2020 Championships on tap for October 31 to November 6 in Richmond, British Colombia, Canada.

The other will be the QubicaAME Bowling World Cup in Kuwait City November 8-12 when the federation will select one male and a female to represent the Bahamas.

Knowles Sr said they have made recommendations for the coaches of the various teams, but they have not yet confirmed any names. He said their selections could be completed by next week.

“One of the things that I was committed to during my presidency is to undertake the opportunity to give some exposure to compete at different levels of the game,” he said. “We’ve seen the benefits of that from last year when we took a team of inexperienced individuals.

“One example of that was Cheryl Bevans. She averaged about 130 when she went to the tournament in Las Vegas. She came home and it forced her to commit herself deeper to bowling and as a result of that, she’s practicing harder and at the nationals, her average went up to about 170 and she has been maintaining that.”

Knowles Sr said he will continue to agitate for bowlers to get the exposure and the experienced players to perform even better when they compete at the international level.