By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

When the 2nd Chris Brown Bahamas Invitational is held on Saturday at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, Chris “Fireman” Brown said the public can expect to see some keenly contested match-ups in just about every event that will be staged.

During a press conference yesterday at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, Brown thanked the Bahamas Government for believing in him and the sponsors for supporting him in making the dream a reality once again.

“For more than 19 years, I’ve heard Bahamians say to me that they have stood up in their chairs at 2 o’clock in the mornings to watch you guys run,” said Brown of the major global meets like the Olympic Games and the World Championships, which are normally staged in a different time zone.

“My gift to the Bahamian people is to bring a world-class event to the Bahamas. We want to be number one at whatever we do and I believe that with this competition and the world-class athletes that we have coming, this will be number one in the region and will continue to be number one.”

As the meet is expected to become a staple on the local sporting calendar, Brown said he intends to eventually get permission to move the invitational to a Grand Prix status.

“I just want to say thank you to all of you for not giving up on me, even though I had some hard times,” said Brown of the invitational being called off for the past two years for one reason or the other. “I just want to thank you all and to say that I will continue to represent the Bahamas and to continue to take the Bahamian flag as high as I can take.

“With the help of the sponsors and you guys trusting and believing in me, I’m young, but I have a bright future and a big dream. I hope to continue to do big things. I hope to take the flag as high as I can take it.”

With this being an Olympic year, Brown said he was able to convince a lot of the top athletes to come to the Bahamas to see where they are heading into Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August.

“With the majority of the meets being overseas, having a warm place like the Bahamas and the number one stadium in the region, the perfect timing, the perfect weather, the food and the lovely people, it was an easy sell for me to tell them that they can come here and put down some early times,” Brown said.

“Once I was able to sell that to them, they were able to plug it into their calendar and they felt that this is a meet that they should support. A lot of them are my friends, so it was an easy sell for me.”

From the track to the field, Brown said there’s a steady diet of competition that will be able to satisfy all of the fans when they come out to watch the big event.

Americans Will Claye and world record holder Christian Taylor, according to Brown, have already gone on record to say that they are looking forward to coming to the Bahamas to defeat national record holder Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands on his home soil, albeit, this will be Sands’ first appearance in the new stadium.

World and Olympic champion Kirani James, of Grenada, will be matched against rising young star Steven Gardiner and veteran American Jeremy Wariner in the men’s 400m.

Brown, however, said he won’t be competing, but he’s looking forward to opening his season somewhere else.

Jeffery Gibson, who has emerged as the man to watch in the 400m hurdles after he had back-to-back medals at the Commonwealth and Pan American Games, will be tested this year against Puerto Rico’s Javier Culson and Trinidad & Tobago’s Jehue Gordon.

“We are expecting a full house and it will be a nice show,” Brown said.

Not to be left out with a lot of national favour will be the men’s high jump where the quartet of Donald Thomas, Trevor Barry, Ryan Ingraham and Jamal Wilson will have their own showdown, but they will be hard pressed by Americans Donte Nall, Garrett Huyler and Darius Purcell.

The ladies’ side will be just as explosive as Bianca ‘BB’ Stuart will continue her impressive season after a great opener over the weekend in the long jump against a field that should include Jamaican Shanieka Thomas, British Virgin Island’s Chantel Malone and Americans Chelsea Hayes and Chelsea Carrier-Eades.

Shaunae Miller, who just got engaged, will contest the 400m against Americans Ashley Spencer and Jessica Beard, Great Britain’s Montene Speight and Ashley Kelly from the British Virgin Islands, as well as Samantha Edwards from Antigua.

The 100m will see the return of Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM) against Alexis Love (USA), Murielle Ahoure (Ivory Coast), Kaylin Whitney (USA), Aleen Bailey (JAM), Michelle Lee-Ahye (TTO), Trisha-Ann Hawthorne (TTO), Jade Bailey (Barbados) and Taheshia Harrigan.

And the 200m should be just as loaded with athletes like Sherone Simpson (JAM), Natasha Hastings (USA), Tori Bowie (USA), Joanna Atkins (USA), Charonda Williams (USA), Semoy Hackett (TTO), Candyce McGrone (USA) and Olivia Ekpone (NIG).

The invitational is all set to begin at 6pm following a junior segment, featuring the Bahamas’ top athletes in action from 11am to 5pm.