Executives in the Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC) have crossed all the T's and dotted every I, for the upcoming Pan American Games. All the entries have been submitted by the executive board, now leaving it up to the Bahamian athletes to go into Mexico and compete.
General secretary in the BOC, Romel 'Fish' Knowles confirmed that athletes will represent The Bahamas in athletics (track and field), swimming, boxing, bowling and tennis. The 16th Pan American Games will be held October 14-30 in Guadalajara. Athletes from more than 40 countries will compete at the games, which will feature 28 sporting disciplines. Heading the delegation, as Chef de Mission is Don Cornish, president of the Bahamas Volleyball Federation and executive member in the BOC.
Knowles said: "The subscription went fairly well. All the various associations met the deadlines. So everything from the administrative side went very smoothly, thanks to Colin Whitmmane, the capacity support officer. He has been provided to us by Commonwealth Games Canada. So basically, he has been handling that for us.
"We suspect that the latest the organizing committee will accept anyone will be by the end of the month. But the various international federations are now tallying their numbers to make sure that the respective persons have qualified and will participate. The only pending athletes, I didn't mention were tennis (players). There are some athletes pending qualifications from tennis. The international federation is just putting together their master lists so they can release who will qualify for the wildcard lists."
In an earlier interview with The Nassau Guardian, president of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) Steven Turnquest revealed that qualifications for the games was based on points earned on the circuit. At that time, only Marvin Rolle's chances were good, in terms of being added to the draw. The six-member team identified by the association included Kerrie Cartwright, Larikah Russell, Nikkita Fountain, Rolle, Jammal Adderley and Timothy Nielly.
The tennis segment will be played October 17-22, at the Telcel Tennis Complex. There will be singles, doubles and mixed doubles matches at the event, which is sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
At the last hosting of the Pan Am Games, which are held every four years, The Bahamas placed 15th overall. A total of seven medals were captured, two gold, two silver and three bronze.
The two gold medals were won in athletics, Chris Brown in the men's 400 meters (m) and the men's 4x400m relay squad. Donald Thomas won a silver in high jump while Christine Amertil finished second in the women's 400m. Two of the three bronze medals went to Chandra Sturrup and Laverne Eve, in the women's 100m and javelin, respectively. The 4x100m relay swim team was inclusive of Alana Dillette, Alicia Lightbourne, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace and Nikia Deveaux.
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