NATIONAL SWIMMER Antonio Hussein clocked a CARIFTA ‘C’ qualifying time while Amy Grant landed a gold, to close off their performances for the year with impressive display at the recently concluded Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT) Invitational Swimming Championships, held at the Marlins Pool, in Westmoorings, Trinidad.

Also picking up medals at the inter-club, FINA-sanctioned meet which ran from December 11 to 14 was Banks DIH Sports Brand Ambassador, Soroya Simmons, who swam in the Girls 15 and over category and walked away with a total of five medals from the annual event – three silver and two bronze.
Guyana swimmers also garnered silver medals in the Boys 8 and under 4x50m freestyle relay and 4x50m medley relay, where the team comprised Noel Raekwon, Ethan Gonsalves, Elliott Gonsalves, and Vladimir Woodroffe.
Hussein clocked 28.15 seconds in the Boys 11-12 50m freestyle to capture a CARIFTA ‘C’ time, picking up a bronze medal in the process.
Representing the Dorado Swim Club, Hussein finished behind Trinidad’s Gabriel Bynoe (27.87s), while the ultimate win for the race was captured by St Vincent’s Shane Cadogan who finished in 27.27 seconds.
Hussein also participated in the 50m backstroke (35.03s), 100m freestyle (1:04.73s), 50m butterfly (34.60s), 200m freestyle (2:26.77s), and the 50m breaststroke (40.28s), while finishing eleventh overall out of 24 swimmers in his age category.
Simmons took silver in the 200m backstroke but her time of 2:46.98s was bettered only by the 2:39.76s clocked by Barbados’ Ariel Cape.
There was another silver for the 17-year-old in the 800m freestyle, where she was trumped by Shania David who clocked 10:36.76s to overcome Simmon’s 10:51.28s and in the 100m backstroke, Simmons once again had a hard time overcoming the speed of Cape who finished in 1:10.26s, to settle in second place with her 1:15.19s.
Simmons’ bronze came in the 200m freestyle (2:24.42s), and 1500m freestyle (20:49.97s) events, while she also participated in the 50m freestyle (31:11s) and 100m freestyle (1:06.34s) events, to finish fifth overall in the Girls’ 15 and over age category.
Hussein and Simmons were among a number of Guyanese swimmers who travelled to the Twin Island Republic to participate in the annual event which is usually attended by scores of swimmers from across the Caribbean.
The meet was attended by swimmers from three different swimming clubs in Guyana – Dorado Speed Swim Club, Silver Sharks Aquatic Swim Club and Orca Speed Swim, with Grant representing Silver Sharks.
In other notable performances Raekwon who had several near misses in medalling, managed to end fifth out of eleven swimmers in the Boys 8 and under age category.
The team express gratitude to Banks DIH who extended sponsorship towards their travelling to Trinidad, along with John Fernandes Ltd, Guyana Oil Company, C & V Shipping, P & P Insurance Brokers, CCS Guyana Ltd, Mr Orlando Rogers, Movement Auto Rentals & Bus Service, Rawle & Dwight Ferguson, Channel 72, Jiffy Lube and Ramchand Auto Sales.