The Goodwill Swimming Championships involving Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Barbados and hosts Guyana is set to commence at 12pm today at Castellani Pool.

Secretary of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) Karen Pilgrim said yesterday that all the members of the participating countries had arrived along with a total of 74 overseas-based spectators for the meet.
Guyana will be represented by the following swimmers:

(Boys) Stephen King, Dylan Nurse, Daniel Scott, Dominic Skeete, Shane Baksh, Shamal Baksh, Nathanael King, Shaqueel Amin, Serrano Gonsalves, Dorian Gonsalves , Dorian Thompson, Travis  Henry, Omali Dare, Linden Wickham, Elroy Hinds, Joseph Seguina, Jamaal Henry, Alan Lowe, Sebastian de Freitas, Stephen Soares

(Girls) Telena Smith, Accalia Khan, Sarah King, Marissa Melville, Jamila Sanmoogan, Sasha Hughes, Athena Gaskin, Soroya Simmons, Britany Van Lange, Noelle Smith, Steffi de Nobrega, Anna Layne, Darcy Chambers, Kristyl Robinson, Ashley Layne, Tiffany Nedd, Siedha Dummett and Athena Foo as the lone reserve.

Coach of the team Sean Baksh said that so far the morale of the team is high.  He also said that while they suffered a minor setback in their preparation earlier this week the team is pumped and ready to compete today.

“We suffered a minor setback earlier this week when the pool was closed for two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) and so we had to take today [yesterday] which was suppose to be our rest day to get some time in the pool,” Baksh said.

He noted, however, that team members got a chance to watch some of the swimmers from the other participating countries and are not intimidated.

The events that will be contested today are the 200 metre freestyle, 100m butterfly, 50m breaststroke, 50m butterfly and the 4x100m freestyle relays in all age categories.

The age groups to be contested during the championships, which end on Sunday, are: 8 and under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-17.