The Bahamas has been eliminated from competition at the AIBA World Qualification Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan. The last remaining Bahamian boxer, Rashield Wiliams, lost yesterday. Williams fell to Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov, of Tajikistan, in the round of 16. Shown in the photo from left are coach Andre Seymour, super heavyweight Keishno Major, middleweight Carl Hield, light welterweight Rashield Williams and Coach Valentino Knowles. (Photo: File)
Once again, The Bahamas will not be represented in the sport of boxing at the Olympic Games.
The last remaining Bahamian boxer at the 2016 International Boxing Association's (AIBA) World Qualification Tournament, in Baku, Azerbaijan, bowed out of competition yesterday. Light welterweight Rashield Williams (64 kilogram-kg.) class, fell to Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov, of Tajikistan, in the round of 16.
Williams, the only of the six Bahamians to win a bout at the Olympic qualifier, lost yesterday's match unanimously, three rounds to none. The judges scored the fight, 30-26, 30-26 and 29-27. The event was the final Olympic qualifying event in boxing for this region, meaning The Bahamas will just be represented in athletics, swimming and rowing at the 2016 Summer Olympics, set for August 5-21, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
On Sunday, 26-year-old Williams was impressive in turning back Miguel Ferrin, of Ecuador, as he won all three rounds in that bout at the Sarhadchi Olympic Sport Complex in Baku. That followed a string of five straight losses for Bahamian boxers at the qualifying tournament.
Lightweight Rudolph Regis (60 kg.) was the first to see action for The Bahamas, and lost unanimously to Chu-En Lai, of Chinese Taipei; middleweight Carl Hield (75 kg.) fell unanimously to Damian Biacho Bolequia, of Spain, three rounds to none; light heavyweight Israel Johnson (81 kg.) lost unanimously to Heegeun Yang, of South Korea, three rounds to none; super heavyweight Keishno Major (91+ kg.) lost unanimously to Asian opponent Konstantin Li, of Kyrgyzstan, three rounds to none; and Davon Hamilton (91 kg.) lost unanimously to Josip-Bepo Filipi, of Croatia, three rounds to none.
Just the top five athletes from each weight class qualified for the Olympics.
"I think that the performances went well, especially those of Rashield and Keishno. This is an Olympic qualifying tournament, so of course the competition would be very stiff, but from what I heard, those guys performed very well. All of the matches were very close," said Amateur Boxing Federation of The Bahamas (ABFB) President Wellington Miller. Miller is also the president of the Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC).
"What we have to do now is continue to build," said Miller. "There are a lot of young boxers who are coming up, and they are going to need guidance. I feel confident that we will get boxers qualified for the Olympics in the future, possibly in 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. The 2020 Olympics is definitely on our agenda. We are embarking on a new 10-year plan.
Taureano (Johnson), Valentino (Knowles) and Carl (Hield) came up through the old 10-year plan, and they accomplished a number of things. Before Reno went on to excel professionally, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the Olympics and was the number five ranked fighter in the world in his weight class. Valentino was the number two ranked fighter in the Americas, and Carl has won a number of regional medals. It's now time to focus on the younger boxers coming up, and that's what we intend to do."
The last time The Bahamas was represented in boxing at the Olympics was in 2008 in Beijing, China. Taureano Johnson made it all the way to the semi-finals before losing to hometown favorite Hanati Silamu, of China.
Sheldon Longley, Guardian Sports Editor
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