The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

They both gave it their all, but it may not have been enough as Cynthia Rahming and Andrew Munnings lost their matches today at the World Judo Championships and a shot to compete at the 2020 Olympic Games.

The judokas represented the Bahamas in Budapest, Hungary, at the Laszlo Papp Budapest Sports Arena where the last event took place to qualify for the Olympics, scheduled for July 23 to August 8 in Tokyo, Japan.

In her second round match yesterday, Rahming could not escape an armbar applied by her Polish opponent Anna Kuczera in pool A of the women’s under-57 kilograms category, while Munnings got beat by Bilai Ciloglu from Turkey in the first round of the men’s under-73 kg class.

Rahming, who noted that she felt her opponent dislocated her arm at least three times, said her aim was to go to the championships and win and so she tried to hold on for as long as she could.

“The World Championships have a lot of energy because people come there to be the world champion,” said Rahming, whose only goal was to win as many fights as she could and qualify for the Olympics.

“With this being the last opportunity to qualify for the Olympics, there were a lot of high hopes and anxiety in the air. But Andrew and myself were really encouraged by what we saw. Although we didn’t win, we came out of this competition knowing that we did our very best.”

With judo being such a diversified sport, Rahming said it all comes down to how a judoka interacts with his or her opponent whether it’s a long or short match.

Looking back at her performance, Rahming said she felt she left it all on the mat.

“I felt I should have done this or done that, but I definitely think that I just need to go away and get some hard intense training because the challenges of Covid-19 put our national team at a disadvantage,” she stated.

“You can’t do judo alone. In this era of judo, it’s all professional. They’re paid very well to train and compete and they have everything at their disposal. Coming from the Bahamas, I’m sure you heard this many times, we’re not there. You’re on your own. We have to do everything ourselves.”

Traveling by themselves without a coach, Rahming said there was an opportunity in the match where she could have relied on some advice from the corner, but she didn’t have it.

“I’m all for us having a Bahamian coach because I believe only our people will care for our people,” she said. “We really need to do some research and get our own Bahamian coach to coach us.

“Andrew and I were here by ourselves and I know in my moment, there was a moment when I needed that extra push from the coach and I think it would have helped me a lot. At the same time, all these elements add to the competition itself.”

As for his match, Munnings said it was a tough one

“When we got the draw sheet, I was looking for an opponent who I knew that I could beat, or have a chance to beat,” he said. “But they gave me number ten in the world right off the bat.

“I had to get myself in gear because I had to face him. When I got to the match, I was still confident, but cautious of his ability. I felt I did very well going at him. I was proud of myself.”

Despite the loss, Munnings said it turned out to be a confidence booster for him, considering the fact that he was less fit coming off the injury that prevented him from training as much as he should have.

“It took me that I could definitely be right up there with the best in the world, if I continue to work hard,” he said. “We just need to travel abroad more often in places like Europe and Asia because their programme is far more superior than in our region.”

In his critique of Rahming’s match, Munnings said it showed how grit and determination she was to win.

“She got caught in armbar after being in control of the match,” Munnings said. “She slipped up a bit and the girl caught her in the armbar. It was amazing to see it.

“Everybody thought she would tap out because of the way the girl was holding her arm. We were so shocked. We were concerned about whether her arm would break or not. It was something to see. I was so proud of her.”

Rahming, on the other hand, said she was impressed with Munnings’ performance, considering the fact that he was coming off a broken leg.

“He fought against the number ten guy in the world, who actually got a bronze,” Rahming said. “He’s definitely improved from the last time he fought at the 2019 World Championships.

“He was able to get in some good grips, but he lost out on penalties, which kind of happens to the Caribbean judokas. I thought he did a lot better with what we had to work with. But that guy wasn’t just number ten in the world. He was ranked that high for a reason.”

Rahming, the 27-year-old daughter of Bahamas Judo Federation president Darcy Rahming, said she will continue to train either in Austria or Japan with the hopes of trying to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

Munnings, the 23-year-old son of Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s Director of Sports, Timothy Munnings, said it’s now back to the drawing board when they return home this weekend.

While he’s definitely done with securing a spot for the Olympics, Rahming is still holding on to see the final Continental list as there could be one or two surprises once the World Championships is completed on June 13.

She’s hoping that her name will be one of them on the list.