SPORTS SECTION E
TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2016
Sub-19 in 200m?
Usain Bolt, Page 5
Making history, Morley looks forward to her international ranking By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — Although this is just her first major international exposure to the sport, Emily Morley feels as if she has progressed tremendously in the two races she competed in so far at the 2016 Olympic Games in the women’s single sculling event. Morley, 22, competed in the Repechage, a race for competitors who didn’t qualify out of the preliminary round. She was fourth in her heat in 8:22.77. The 22-yearold student of Ithaca College will race again Tuesday at 11:40 am EST to determine her final international ranking. “It was a lot better, a lot easier,” said Morley of her second race af-
EMILY MORLEY ter finishing fifth in her opening heat on Saturday. “It was rather nice because the weather actually held up this time and obviously some wind, but not as bad as two days ago. So I’m very happy with what I did.” During the race, which was postponed from Sunday because
of the light windy conditions, Morley advanced out of fifth place mid-way and was able to open up a slight lead on Camille Valle Granados from Peru, who took the final spot in 8:32.88. Amina Rouba from Algeria came back as well to take the tape in 8:04.21 over Trinidad & Tobago’s Felice Chow, who joined Rouba in qualifying for the quarter-final in her time of 8:04.91. Despite the fact that she didn’t qualify for the quarter-final, Morley said she was glad that she improved on her time of 9:22.12 seconds for sixth place. “Every time you touch the water, you get a little faster,” she stated. “This is a new brand of boat that I never rode in before, so being on the water and feeling really fast and strong in the boat, was
something I felt really good about. Hopefully by the next race, I will be even faster and at the next race I will be at my peak.” She admitted that she’s honoured to be able to break these new grounds for the Bahamas in competing in rowing for the first time for the country. “Being here wants to make me want to go to 2020 (Olympic Games in Toyko, Japan,” she projected. “It’s so cool. You walk around and you’re like ‘oh, that’s Venice Williams, the American tennis player. It’s like I only see her on TV, but she’s walking around. So it’s pretty awesome to be among those elite athletes.” And if she intends to be a contender in Toyko, Morley acknowledges that she will have to bulk up a little more to complement her
Evans smashes her national record in the 200 freestyle By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — Another heat and another national record for Joanna Evans. One day after she shattered her own women’s 400 metre freestyle swimming record, producing a new time of four minutes and 7.80 seconds as she placed a close second in her heat for 13th place overall at the 2016 Olympic Games, Evans smashed her second record in the 200m free by posting a time of 2:01.08 to erase her previous mark of 2:01.34. This time, she got fifth in her heat and finished 37th overall. To top it off, she still has her specialty in the women’s 800m free to come on Thursday. Her national record is 8:33.19 and she believes that could fall as well when she competes out of the second of four heats in lane eight at 1:26 pm EST. “Honestly, it wasn’t quite what I was looking for,” the University of Texas freshman told the Bahamian media after her race. “I was looking to get under two minutes, but after such a great race yesterday, I’m just going to go back and relax and try to get ready for the 800m.” In her race, Evans came up with splits of 28.57 after the first 50m, 59.23 (30.66) at the 100m mark, 1:30.71 (30.99) at the 150 and completed the final 50 in 32.31. “I can’t complain. At the Olym-
JOANNA EVANS, of the Bahamas, competes in a women’s 200-metre freestyle heat at the 2016 Summer Olympics, yesterday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP) pics, it’s one of those things,” said the 18-year-old as she made her Olympic debut an impressive one so far. “To swim best times is all you can really ask for, so I’m just grateful to be able to do it and to make the Bahamas proud.” Evans followed on the heels of Dustin Tynes, who was eighth in his heat of the men’s 100m breaststroke yesterday to place 44th
overall. But Team Bahamas is still waiting on veteran Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, who also qualified for three events, but opted only to swim two. She will begin her quest for a medal in her third Olympic experience by contesting the women’s 100m free on Wednesday at 12:02 pm EST in the fifth of six heats in lane seven. The final will be held later that
night. Her coach Andy Loveitt said this is definitely a good precursor to Evans’ future. “When you look at what she did in the 400m yesterday (Sunday), which was a fantastic race, her splits in the 200m was very similar to what she did in the race
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height. “I’m a tall woman, but I’m not as tall as a lot of rowers here,” she said. “So building up my muscle mass to bring in a good stroke is what I need to work on, my strength.” Looking back and comparing her first two races, Morley admitted that her nerves got the better of her in her initial race. “Today, it was a little less tense than it was two days ago,” she said. “Every time you get to the starting line, you want to take a deep breath and relax. I think I did that better today.” And having had the two races under her belt, Morley said she’s looking forward to continuing to improve as she gets her international ranking to work on her future participation in the sport.
BAHAMIANS IN ACTION THIS WEEK all times Bahamian Tuesday Rowing 11.30am: Emily Morley Women’s Single Sculls semi-final Wednesday Swimming 12.02pm: Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Women’s 100m freestyle, heat five, lane seven Final at 9.12pm Thursday Swimming 1.26pm: Joanna Evans Women’s 800m freestyle, heat 2, lane eight. Final at 10.18pm Friday Swimming 1.02pm: Arianna VanderpoolWallace - Women’s 50m free, heat 12, lane three Athletics 8.05pm: Steven Gardiner, Chris Brown and Alonzo Russell - men’s 400m prelims 9.40pm: Ty’Nia Gaither Women’s 100m heats Saturday Athletics 10am: Shaunae Miller Women’s 400m heats 11am: Shavez Hart, Adrian Griffith and Jamial Rolle Men’s 100m heats 7.30pm: Men’s 400m semi-final 8pm: Women’s 100m semi-final 9.35pm: Women’s 100m final Sunday Athletics 7.30pm: Donald Thomas, Trevor Barry and Jamal Wilson - men’s high jump qualification. Final Tuesday, August 16, at 7:30pm 7.30pm: Women’s 400m semi-final 8pm: Men’s 100m semi-final 9pm: Men’s 400m final 9.25pm: Men’s 100m final
Local basketball coach concerned over student visas being rejected By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net ONE local basketball coach expressed his concerns over the recent trend of the United States Embassy rejecting student visa applications and severely limiting educational opportunities. Speaking under the condition of anonymity, he questioned whether decision makers have considered the adverse effects of the recent policy which has led to the rejection of about “50 per cent” of visa applications for Bahamian high school students wishing to study in America. “The fact of the matter is that many of our programmes are predicated on getting kids off to school to get that opportunity to further their education and being
a student athlete is a necessary component to that,” he said. “I have been assisting students through this process for over about two decades now and I’ve never seen it as bad as this. I have never had kids denied until last summer and this year it is even worse. There has to be something more to this, but whatever the reasons, young student athletes are missing out on opportunities and they have such a small window to take advantage as it is.” In June, Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said the rise in rejections came about due to the embassy’s concerns of human trafficking. “Many of these schools these players are getting denied to are not the ones involved in any scheme or anything of that nature. I think the embassy has to be
upset with something the government has done because this makes no sense to me. If we continue denying these kids, they are going to be frustrated, kids are going to end up doing things they should not be doing because of a lack of opportunities. This has to be political and it’s hurting the kids,” he said. “If a school has a I-20 form in their system then that means they are already approved and accredited, so that can’t be an excuse. If that’s the case they should not be in the system. The process to get in that system takes months and if they are not happy they’re removed from that system. There has to be something else at play here, we are aware this is a subjective process but a lot of people here are suffering because of these recent changes.”
Mr Mitchell said that some high schools in the US are luring Bahamian students with promises of college scholarships and a future career in basketball. However, once the child leaves the Bahamas to attend the school, administrators withhold the children’s passports, isolate them from their parents and force them to work to “earn their keep.” “There is a suspicion that there is a high level of fraud going on and they have indicated to us that parents should be very concerned about the schools their children are applying to. It is important because basketball is something that drives young males and young females out of this country, but young males in particular it drives them to want to leave school in the Bahamas and go to high school in the United States. They
do this to obtain eligibility to get scholarships to go to college. But the problem is, we have been told, that these schools are not what they are cracked up to be. There is a suspicion that these schools have been involved in things which approximate to trafficking of persons,” he said. “In some cases there have been allegations of passports being held by the schools, parents not gaining access to their children, the children are told they get scholarships but once they get there they are told they need to work off their debt at the school. So all of these things are contrary to what is presented by the school.” Mr Mitchell said he was told by the US Embassy that US law does not permit officials to reveal the names of the schools involved in the scheme.