OLYMPIAN Niall Roberts and national swimmer Onika George have been selected by the technical committee of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) to represent Guyana at the upcoming Commonwealth Games, to be held in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23 to August 3.The duo are currently under the training of national coach Sean Baksh, undergoing their preparation at the National Aquatic Centre at Liliendaal.
Roberts, who last participated internationally at the International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Championships in Barcelona last year, and George were selected based on their FINA points.
Baksh noted that while other swimmers were considered to attend the event they were already committed to another international event.
According to Baksh, the training is coming along fairly well with few impediments, highlighting George’s academic commitments, but she expects to get in more practice as the school term comes to an end.
George, a fifth form student at Bishops’ High, is currently sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and has been dividing her time between studying and training for what will be her debut international event.
Roberts will be swimming in the Men’s 50m and 100m freestyle, and 50m butterfly, while George, who was last year’s sole qualifier at the Junior CARIFTA Swimming Championships, will be participating in the Women’s 50m and 100m freestyle and the 50m backstroke.
Roberts and George are two of the athletes who will be representing Guyana at the quadrennial Games.
Swimming is one of seven distinct sporting disciplines in which Guyanese athletes are expected to participate at the Games. The others are athletics, rifle shooting, table tennis, cycling, squash, and boxing.
The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) has already announced athletes Winston George, Stephan James and Adam Harris as their choices to participate in the track segment, with national captain Mahendra Persaud and Lennox Braithwaite being the chosen ones to fire their weapons in the rifle shooting category, with experienced rifleman and wind coach Ronsford Goodluck as manager/coach.
Guyana participated in the event when it was last held in Delhi, India back in 2010. At the time Guyana fielded a 34-man team which was considered at the time to be one of the largest Guyanese contingents to be sent to an international event.
Overseas-based Guyanese Aliann Pompey’s silver medal was Guyana’s sole medal at the event. Pompey won the medal by merit of her 51.65 seconds finish in the Women’s 400m dash. Pompey had initially finished third. However she was elevated to silver after original silver medallist Folashade Abugan was disqualified for doping.
Attending the Games on several occasions over the years, Guyana have thus far amassed a total of fifteen medals at the Games, three of which are gold medals.