The Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) is set to host a trial meet on Saturday with the prize being a chance to represent Guyana at the 15th World Swimming Championships (25 metres) in Abu Dubai from December 15 to 22.
The World Championships will take place in the iconic Etihad Arena, which for the occasion will be transformed into a 25 metre temporary pool. Further, an Aquatics Festival will now take place in parallel with the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) which will feature three additional FINA disciplines (diving, high diving and open water).
According to GASA President, Dwayne Scott, Guyana has been invited to send two male and two female swimmers and the selection will be determined by the upcoming meet at the National Aquatic Centre in Liliendaal on the East Coast.
“Guyana was invited to send two male and two female athletes to the event. We thought it wise that we should open the field to all athletes which is current and past, giving everybody a chance to qualify. With that in mind, we went ahead and scheduled a trial,” Scott stated.
The GASA President noted that the event is open to all ages and has already seen a positive response from the country’s swimmers.
“Because it is an open event, we would see athletes showing interest from Hannibal Gaskin, Andrew Fowler, Leon Seaton who will try to match the strokes with the more mature fellas and the other young guns who are part of our developmental programme,” he said.
Scott added, “We would have done prequalification based on FINA points system and now the situation is for everybody to show up, swim and do the best they can… based on the outcome of the event we would sit down and deliberate based on the achievements of time based on FINA points and I would seek the assistance of the technical committee to come up with the four names we would send.”
The event is set to begin by 09.00 hours and is the first official event since the Pan Am qualifiers back in August.
