By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IN his bid to attempt to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, judoka Andrew Munnings is planning on taking his training base to Europe over the next four months.

Munnings, who trained in a few countries last year, plans to take off to Europe at the end of the month where he admits that it’s cheaper for him to compete in a number of competitions where he’s there.

“There’s a training site that I went to last year who has extended an open arm for me to come back,” said Munnings, of the proposed training base in Valencia, Spain. “I will be there while traveling to compete in the different Grand Slams and Grand Prix that are happening.”

Munnings, who turned 26 on January 1, is looking to compete in his first event for the year on February 1 as he got his adrenaline flowing for what he expects to be a banner year. He will continue to represent the Bahamas Judo Federation at the July 26-August 11 Olympics, hopefully following in the footsteps of his father, Timothy Munnings, a track and field Olympian and former Director of Sports at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.

“I feel confident. I feel very strong,” he said. “My last few training sessions when I was away were very good, so starting in Paris with the competition there, will be a good starting point because Paris has one of the biggest competitions year-round and is normally sold out. So I am getting fired up and hope to continue the momentum through the rest of the competition.”

With the meet being a prelude to the Olympics, Munnings said he just wants to put his best foot forward. He’s currently 263 in the world in the under-73 kilograms and is 52nd in the Pan American region.

“Going into this year, Lord’s willing, I should be able to do more competition and really gather a lot more points to improve on my rankings,” Munnings said. “To qualify for the Olympics, I would need to be in the top 18 in the world or 11th in the region.

“And so to be top 18 in the world could be so difficult, especially if you don’t start off very strong. You could be in trouble because the ones who win, they continue to keep winning and they secure the points by the time the Olympics roll around.”

Not counting his chances out, Munnings said he will probably get the other way to qualify, which is to get through from the Pan American region, which better suits the smaller nations like The Bahamas because the points difference isn’t as great.

“If I could win at least two fights in a big competition like the Grand Prix or the Grand Slam, it would put myself up in the qualifying round for the Pan American region.”

Munnings would have female judoka Cynthia Rahming to partner with and rely on for her assistance internationally, but after she announced her retirement from competing last year, Munnings said he won’t let it get to him because he has some to do.

“It’s not that much difference because we are in two different genders and we compete in two different weight classes, we couldn’t always go to the same training sessions together,” he pointed out. “Some were together and others were not.

“But honestly, I do miss her on the mat because to be able to go back and forth with her, we could communicate on what we did or didn’t do. I still communicate with her. She says I’m crazy for it, but I miss having her around to help keep me going.”

Munnings said he remembered a fellow judoka from the country Georgia, who watched him compete and he asked him what keeps him going because he’s been doing it for so long? Munnings said his answer to him was that it was simply because he could be “the world champion.

“I love the sport. When you spend so much time in the sport, it’s really hard to just give up on it, or on anything. But I really believe I could be the world champion. This past year, I tested my ability and although I didn’t put myself in any box, I went out there and did whatever I was told to do. Overtime, I felt really good because I competed against some of the best competitors in the world.”

On this trip to Europe, Munnings will remain overseas until May, training and competing as a full-time judoka. He admits that he doesn’t have a full bank account, but at the same time, he’s not only to allow his insufficiencies to keep him away from attaining his goals.

He concluded that he’s putting his faith and trust in God to deliver from him just as he did in the past when he didn’t know how he would make ends meet. He said that God showed up and provided for his needs just in the nick of time.

“When I left at the beginning of the year, I started in Israel and as a lot of things were going on over there as it was around the world, but God was with me every step of the way,” Munnings said. “I met a lot of friends, but when I didn’t know what my next step would be, he brought someone to help me out.”

He remembered going to Kazakhstan and he didn’t have a visa to get in. He had to submit an application, get it signed and send it back to him in order for him to enter the4 country. As s last minute decision to travel, Munnings said he needed the process to be completed in 24 hours and before the time expired, to his “surprise,” he got his documents, signed, sealed and delivered.

In another incident when he went to Georgia, Munnings said he was very low on funds, but there was a coach who assisted in providing him with food at a restaurant where a number of other visiting athletes got food provided for them on a daily basis.

He had another big thrill, but preferred to hold off the details until after he qualified. However, Munnings said he continue his journey with an open mind that “if I put my trust in God, he will provide. He’s done it for me in the past and I will continue to rely on him to open doors that have been closed in front of me.”

As he reflected on his latest birthday celebrations with his family, Munnings said he’s now eager and enthused to see what unfolds as he ventures into the next few months in preparation for his attempt at qualifying for his first rodeo as an Olympian in Paris in July.