Bahamian judo athletes Daniel Strachan (90 kg.), Alexander Strachan (100 kg.) and Xavion Johnson (66 kg.) recently competed in two major tournaments. They were coached by Oneysi Portorreal-Pons, a former national champion of Cuba.

"We had different goals for each team member. Daniel and Alexander, age 20, were trying to qualify for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and gain some Olympic points for the Pan American Games while Xavion, who is only 16 and still a cadet, was testing the waters to see if he was ready for an Olympic run," said D'Arcy Rahming Sr., president of the Bahamas Judo Federation (BJF).

Both of the Strachans have unofficially qualified for the CAC Games. Daniel finished fifth in the 90 kilogram (kg.) class, winning against Axel Garcia of Honduras after losing in the opening round to multiple medalist Carlos Paez from Venezuela. Alexander finished fifth in the 100 kg. class after he received two byes before losing to Dave Thomas of Jamaica. Xavion lost to multiple Pan Am Open medalist Ulises Mendez, a 21 year old from Mexico.

"We were very pleased with their results, keeping in mind this is the first time in a CAC trials. To have two athletes qualify is amazing. The only way to get experience is to get the time on the mat. In both tournaments, our athletes were competitive. Even in the matches that we lost we were able to fight several exchanges, block our opponents throws and off balance or throw our opponents. There were also some controversial calls that did not go our way." said Rahming.

In the Olympic and Pan American qualifier, Daniel lost to Gualin Guillamme, of Canada, but gained a 35th ranking in the region from points gained from competing. Alexander gained a 22nd place ranking by defeating Pinal Lorenzo of the Dominican Republic while Xavion gained a 51st ranking by means of participating in such a high-level tournament. He lost, albeit with a strong performance against Josue Tellez of Costa Rica after several quality exchanges.

"We are looking forward to winning medals at the CAC Games. Our intention is to get in another tournament before then to get some more experience," said Rahming.

Persons wishing to contact Bahamas Judo can do so at the e-mail address Daishihan@gmail.com.

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