By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

SHANNON Hanna II had one last chance to try and book a trip to France for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games but he came up short at the World Olympic qualifier in Istanbul, Turkey, last weekend.

Competing in the 65kg freestyle category, the 23-year-old finished his third international competition ranked 14th overall.

He easily bested Nauru’s Lowe Bingham 10-0 in the qualification round.

The Campbell University student then advanced to face Korea’s Junsik Yun who narrowly defeated him 4-3 in the pre-quarterfinals.Despite the shortcomings, the Pan-Am bronze medallist is taking it as a learning experience to improve his craft.

“I definitely think I could have won my last match but I look at it like a learning experience. I believe that where I am at in my level of wrestling compared to the guys that qualified and are gonna medal this year, I just have to make minor adjustments.

“I gave myself the opportunity to get better. In my first match I felt good and confident going out there. Ultimately, I had fun even in the match that I lost. I got to watch it back with my coach and saw that there were some small adjustments that could have won me the match. I already feel like I got so much better just by competing in those two matches. I am not too mad about my performance. I went out and tried my best and gave myself an opportunity to get better,” he said.

Hanna got his international journey started with a bang. He won the Bahamas’ first international medal at the 2024 Pan American Wrestling Championships in Acapulco, Mexico, back in February. Since then, he has competed in two other international tournaments in hopes of qualifying for the big dance. Although he did not achieve his goal, the experience gained over the last few months have been priceless for the young wrestler.

“My experience was amazing and I absolutely loved it. This was my third international wrestling event that I participated in and each time I fell in love with wrestling again because of the people that I met and seeing their approach to the sport. Also, being able to wrestle on that stage at the toughest level in the world and ultimately being able to represent The Bahamas. It was really cool and I met people from many different countries that were impressed by The Bahamas,” Hanna said.

The 23-year-old currently has one year left in his studies at Campbell University where he is pursuing a Masters degree in Business Administration. Outside of his studies, he has plans to continue his recent stretch of momentum in wrestling.

“I still have a college season coming up and I still wrestle in the US and some of those guys are just as good as the Olympic level wrestlers. Wrestling in these tournaments like the Pan American Games and the last chance Qualifier in Turkey gives me a boost of confidence heading into my next season and just overall as a wrestler because there was a lot of training I had to do that no one in the world is doing right now,” he said.

After being around some of the greatest and seasoned wrestlers in the world, Hanna is hoping that in the next four years he can represent The Bahamas at the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics.

“This journey has been amazing and it is like a fire being lit. It feels like that every time I wrestle in these international tournaments. I am gonna do this until the wheels fall off. I plan on competing at the World Championship in September and October and at a tournament in Guatemala for June 7. This is something I wanna be doing for as long as I can,” he said.

In the future, he is planning to team up with other wrestlers in the region to possibly host fundraisers or wrestling tournaments for the youth in The Bahamas.

As Hanna continues his wrestling journey, the Pan-Am bronze medallist is making an appeal to corporate Bahamas to offer some assistance with regards to his travel and training expenses.

Interested sponsors can reach out to him via email at shannon.hanna18@gmail.com or to his agents chris@agentcy.co and sawyer@agentcy.co.