Judo was part of the CYG programme for the first time in 2017 and the hosts wasted no time in making their mark as they won two bronze medals.
Mya Beneby (-57kg) and Karra Hanna (+70kg) battled their way to the medal podium as 10 of the 17 competing nations won medals.
The Bahamas team was led by Cuban all-time great Amarilis Savón, a three-time Olympic bronze medallist and four-time world medallist.
Savon was appointed as Bahamas’ lead women’s coach in May and has had an immediate impact.
D’Arcy Rahming Jr, Bahamas Judo Federation High Performance Director, said: “These two young ladies Mya Beneby and Karra Hanna have won the first ever medals for the Bahamas at the Commonwealth Youth Games in any sport. The competition was fierce with over 17 countries. We can now declare that at the cadet level Bahamas judo is competitive at the world level.”
D’Arcy Rahming Sr, Bahamas Judo Federation President, was quick to pay tribute to the role Savón has played in their newly-found success on the Commonwealth stage.
“Amarilis has inspired and motivated our judoka while taking them to a higher level technically,” said Rahming Sr.
“Amarilis will work with our teams at the Cadet World Championships and Senior World Championships and we would love to retain her services going forward.”
The hard-earned medals follow a very successful IJF Academy Instructors course in the country before the competition as the BJF are evolving on all fronts.
IJF Academy experts Daniel Lascau, IJF Sports Director and 1991 world champion, and Mark Huizinga, Sydney 2000 Olympic champion were on hand to deliver the course alongside IJF Academy leader Mr. Envic Galea.
“The course was excellent, I think it is what judo founder Jigoro Kano intended to teach and promote from our sport, a multi-cultural team learning from experts around the world,” said Rahming Sr.
Judo will become a core sport in the Commonwealth Games programme from 2022.
Click here for the full results from CYG 2017.