By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas has another world champion in 17-year-old Dakarai Turnquest from Deadman’s Cay, Long Island.

Over the weekend at the 2024 Billiard Congress of America (BCA) Pool League World Championships at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Turnquest carted off the men’s nine-ball singles title in the Platinum Division.

Still in Las Vegas where he’s a part of a 20-member team that is representing the Bahamas in various divisions of the cue sports championships that will wrap up this weekend, Turnquest said he was honoured to be crowned the new champion.

“I put a lot of work in and practiced for a lot of hours,” said Turnquest, who improved on his past two appearances at the World Junior Championships in consecutive fourth-place finishes. “I played in many tournaments leading up to this, but I kept believing in myself. I had the confidence and I stayed focused in every single match. This time it just happened.”

Improving on his 23rd position in the same tournament last year, Turnquest said he’s relieved that all of his hard work finally paid off.

“I played against a lot of people from different countries, so I had a lot of competition,” he pointed out. “It was very tough to win this tournament because there were a lot of great players here. I’m just happy that I won it and I had fun doing it.”

Not only is Turnquest a billiard wizard who has been participating in the cue sport for the past seven years as a member of the Lloyd’s Sporting Lounge, but he’s also an astute student as the head boy at the NGM Major High School.

“I enjoy playing pool because it’s a lot of fun,” he pointed out. “I play a lot of these international tournaments wearing the Bahamian flag and representing our country.”

This would have been Turnquest’s second major international victory, coming off his victory at the West Coast Challenge in Orlando, Florida, in the nine-ball men’s division and he was third in the eight-ball division as well.

“Even though you are the best in The Bahamas, you are not the best in the world,” said Turnquest, who is considered to be the country’s best cue player. “You still have to go out there and prove it and I did that this weekend.”

While the tournament is still going on, his father Dominic Turnquest said his son proved to be a chip off the old block. But he didn’t stop there, he noted that Dakarai was able to go even further than he ever went.

“I’m very, very proud because when I was growing up, we had a few bars in Nassau that we shoot pool in,” he recalled. “My goal was to become a professional pool player, but it didn’t work out for me.

“So he’s really living out my dream, but it isn’t like I forced it on him. He won a little tournament we had in Long Island and he was shooting pool from there. He took it up and was the fastest person I’ve seen who got to learn and develop as quickly as he did.”

With education the first priority, the elder Turnquest advised his son that if his grades were not up to par, he would not be able to shoot pool.

So said, so done.

“From his time in primary school, he was on the honour roll and he’s still on the honour roll,” the proud father revealed. “When he was in grade six, he got all As in his GLAT exams and when he was in grade nine, he got 10 BJCs with the highest marks in Long Island with seven As, one B and two Cs.

“In grade 11, he took three BJCSEs and he got A in mathematics, A in English and A in geography. So he’s doing extremely well. I always told him that if he doesn’t do that well in school, he won’t shoot pool because school is more important than the sport.”

Dakarai’s victory came in the highest level of the sport, but there were other champions at the lower division, including Kaiwan Nairn in the nine-ball gold division a few years ago and Dario Woodside, who won the eight-ball title in the past as the then top cue player in the country.

Also among the Bahamians competing in the tournament is 15-year-old Jarett Wells, who was fifth in the silver in the nine-ball tournament and is still competing in the eight-ball competition.

The team competition where most of the players will compete together will be played on Wednesday.

The senior Turquest said they are hoping that as a result of his son’s achievement as the “ambassador” for pool in the Bahamas, they will be able to get the necessary funding from the government to participate in future events because of the huge financial expenses they incur making the trips.

“When he’s competing, he’s always wearing the Bahamian flag and our national colours,” he said. “He’s a true ambassador for the Bahamas and we deserve more financial support.”

On the heels of this tournament, the new world champion will head to Birmingham, Alabama, to participate in another tournament from March 30-31 with a huge cash prize on the line. But he can’t wait to get home next week for a celebration with his family and friends for his accomplishment in Las Vegas.

In thanking God, Turnquest said he could not achieve what he did without the help of his parents, his siblings, family and friends and especially Mr Ellis and Ingrid Major. “The Majors have helped me tremendously in my pool career and I just want to thank them for their support,” he stated. “I can’t express enough the appreciation they deserve.”

The Majors own the Lloyd’s Sporting Lounge, which has five eight-foot pool tables and 12 seven-foot pool tables where they host various tournaments for local and international pool tournaments.