The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IN a continued edition, more and more sporting leaders have presented their expectations for their respective organisations heading into the 2024 season.

It’s the second in a two-part series that started on Thursday. Here’s the views of the final three leaders who presented their views for the public to digest.

Eugene Horton

Bahamas Basketball Federation president

With more to gain than any other sporting body in the country, BBF president Eugene Horton has his eyes set on the men’s national basketball team becoming the first team sport to qualify for the Olympic Games.

“The BBF looks to extend its success from 2023 with the Americas Qualifiers looming and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament for our senior men,” Horton said.

“We are excited about what this year entails. Our men’s team can make history.”

While the men will have to qualify for the Paris Olympics in July when they compete in the Qualifying Tournament, Horton said they will also be looking at strengthening their senior women and junior boys and girls programmes.

“We want to turn them around and make them prominent in the region once again,” he stated.

While the success for the men’s national team will depend on who is available from the professional ranks, including the National Basketball Association (NBA) trio of Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield, Deandre Ayton and Eric Gordon, in order to achieve the latter goal, Horton said they will embark on a vigorous talent search in the Family Islands.

“The BBF will also be looking to bolster Family Island relations through initiating coaching seminars, technical seminars, referee and table official recruitment and also live statistics,” he said.

“We will also look forward to our teams being involved in the community as we give back to the sponsors that have made sacrifices in the past and continue to support us.”

Horton admitted that the future is bright for basketball in the Bahamas and they will embrace the “unexpected” and look forward to a “magical year” with great success” and “exceptional performances” all around.

Catherine Ramsingh-Pierre

Equestrian Bahamas president

Based on what they established in 2023 as they established some strong foundations in 2023, for example through initiatives conducted to train officials and national coaches, Ramsingh-Pierre said they should have an active 2024 campaign.

“We look forward to a more systematic approach to the development of local athletes, beginning with a talent identification exercise this spring,” she said. “The TIE will be conducted by personnel from our International Federation, the FEI, as we seek to formally identify junior riders suitable for entering an enhanced performance development programme.”

Ramsingh-Pierre said the next step is to encourage participation in international competition by our local athletes.

Their goal this year, she said, is to field a four-person team to compete in the FFE World Cup Mondiale 2024 in Lamotte-Beuvron, France.

“This year our riders abroad continue to represent The Bahamas as they work toward their individual goals,” she said.

“Kacy Lyn Smith will compete in Ohio, Florida and Virginia with a goal of qualifying for and competing in the FEI North American Youth Jumping Championships. Beginning in February, Anna Camille Vlasov will continue to train in Europe at the CSI4* level, looking toward the next quadrennial cycle.”

The federation, according to Ramsingh-Pierre, continues to prioritise a balance of fun and education with performance and development in equestrian sport locally.

Our calendar of events from January to May reflects this and includes the following:

• Four jumper competitions

• Two interscholastic league competitions

• Three education clinics for members highlighting anti-doping awareness, concussion safety, and horse psychology.

Finally, Ramsingh-Pierre said they have secured funding for a project aimed at increasing access of public-school students to equestrian sport.

“This initiative is still in its infancy and will likely be launched later in the year,” she revealed. “We are excited about it as it reflects our ethos of promoting equestrian sport for all.”

Vincent Strachan

The Boxing Federation of the Bahamas

As he looks at the state of boxing in the Bahamas, Strachan said it’s not how the federation starts, but how it finishes.

Strachan indicated that as the federation looks forward to the Olympic Games in July, they hope that some of the problems they encountered in 2023 will be corrected.

He made mention of their signature event, the Bahamas Memorial Championship, which was introduced in November 2019 and continued in March 2023, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There were many challenges, including wholesale efforts to prevent us from hosting the event,” Strachan said. “We were promised financial assistance from the Bahamas Games Secretariat but never got it. I changed the date from November 2022 to March 2023 to help prepare the boxing teams for the Bahamas Games.

“Teams from the Caribbean region were in town for the competition. Hours before the start we discovered that parts of the boxing ring were missing. That ring was held in a secured building by the NSA at the softball facility. We were able to get the event started a day late.”

In not being able to include the 22 events on the two-day schedule, Strachan said they managed to complete eight final bouts with Bermuda, Cayman islands Haiti and the Bahamas.

“We embarked on an aggressive series of boxing in Grand Bahama from September to December by hosting boxing shows,” he said.

“One of the events was the first ever Thanksgiving Boxing Tournament. The cancellation of Sugar Bert and the Caribbean Boxing Championships that are usually held in November and December respectively prompted us to have that event.”

Despite all that they encountered, Strachan said there are no plans to slow down going forward during this Olympic year and beyond.

“Our monthly boxing event would continue in Grand Bahama and Nassau and other Family Islands,” he revealed.

“We would seek to develop the family, provide the funding they promised through the New Providence Sports Council and cooperate with Bahamas steps in.

“The start of training of officials in New Providence to replace those that were certified in 2019,that will be decertified.

“I will announce the Pre Olympic 2028 team during the first quarter of this year for male and female.”

Strachan also indicated that the federation will participate in as many international boxing tournaments as possible to ensure our boxers develop their skills for future major events.

“I would be leading the charge for the establishment of a Western/ Northern Region Boxing Association and assisting with the completion of the Caribbean Boxing Association relaunch,” he disclosed. “There would be regular exchange among our Americas, Western Northern Caribbean regions, including training camps and competitions.

The development of our IBA Star One to three coaches and officials will continue.

“The hope of having boxers qualify for the Summer Olympics in Paris, France are in focus for the final qualifiers, scheduled for February and May in Italy and a place to be announced for the final qualifier. We are preparing our multi-national team for the Guyana Boxing championships, August this year in George Town, Guyana.”

Strachan said the federation is appealing to corporate Bahamas and the public to partner with them in these most noble events as they seek to assist in the saving of our next generation. He said efforts to locate new training facilities in Nassau are also ongoing.

“Persons who have large buildings and not using them can assist with these efforts,” he stressed. “We are getting no financial support although other sports are receiving whatever is needed for their programmes in the millions of taxpayers dollars.

“We will not stop in our efforts to succeed in the development of boxing in the Bahamas.

“Also, those officials and medical personnel who are still waiting to be paid for their efforts in assisting with boxing during the Bahamas Games.

“We would not be caught up in the confusing situation in boxing internationally.”

According to Strachan, the governing body for the sport worldwide, IBA, has forecasted that this is the year for the Americas, hopefully great things will happen for the Caribbean region, including the Bahamas.

Strachan thanked all those persons who assisted with their financial sponsors from Grand Bahama and Nassau, including the Grand Bahama Port Authority, Zorbas, Out Da Sea Restaurant and Bar, Lowen Mill Construction Co. CrossFit Gym, All Out Boxing, Dr. Albert Francios, Timothy Dames and Tim Refrigeration Services, Gary Bethel and G&M Convenience Store and Gus Cartwright and Checkers Restaurant.