By Iva Wharton
The Goodwill Swimming Championships, the first major competition to be held at the National Aquatic Centre since its construction started yesterday with more than 100 athletes from four countries competing.
Declaring the championships open was Director of Sport, Neil Kumar, who in his address said that the swimmers were fortunate to the first utilizing the new facilities.
“This is the first ever international activity at the National Aquatic Centre and whatever you do here today will go down in Guyana’s history. Whatever you do here I am sure that it will bring joy to the GOA and from here I hope that you will be setting your sights on neighbouring Brazil for the next Olympics,” said Kumar.
President of the Guyana Olympic Association Juman Yassin in his address said that the swimmers are in a position to create records.
“You are now in a position to set records in this pool because I believe that it is the first major competition that is being held in this pool since the Aquatic Centre has been open,” Yassin said.
The competition, which commenced afterwards, got off the ground with the girls’ 9-10 years old 200 metre freestyle event.
Meanwhile, Kenneth MacDonald, Suriname’s head coach, said that he expects great things from his swimmers.
Asked about his team going into the competion with four swimmers short, MacDonald said: “We are missing two boys 15 to 17 and two girls 15 to 17 too. I know it’s a big disadvantage but we will try to make it up with the smaller kids”.
MacDonald said that most of his swimmers are new with the exception of seven swimmers who competed at last year.
“We’ve built a new team which we call a stepping stone to bigger tournaments like Carifta,” he declared.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Team Manager Francis Sampson said that their main focus at the championships was to win.
“We recently had a gold medallist at the Olympics so are hoping to spot a few new gold medallists through these games,” he said.
Sampson said that with the exception of a few, a large percentage of the team comprises new swimmers who are all champions in local competitions back home.
Asked whether she was concerned about defending champions Suriname, Sampson said no.
“Last year we only lost by 9.5 points so I think we can close that gap this year and safely say take home that trophy.”
The Goodwill Swimming championship is being contested by hosts Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and defending champions Suriname. The three day championship comes to an end tomorrow.
