THE Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) recently tried to make some inroads to recommence swimming activities but the latest development that the 2021 CARIFTA Aquatics Championships has been postponed was welcome news since the association’s members have been inactive since March of 2020. The event which began in 1985 was scheduled for Barbados from March 26 to April 7, but it has been postponed due to the recent spikes in the number of COVID-19 cases in the Land of the Flying Fish. When president of GASA, Dwayne Scott, learned of this he said it was a move that will be saluted by the association which is currently unprepared to attend any international event. “Rightly put, it is a necessary action that was taken. Because, I guess, our athletes have not been able to have access to the facility to train since last March. So, for Guyana, it’s a positive if these decisions are indeed confirmed.
“So we welcome that move, because it will allow us a little more time to get our athletes prepared. At the moment we don’t have access for our CARIFTA athletes at the facility so our athletes cannot train.”

Added to that, Scott was most concerned about the level of competitiveness the Guyanese athletes would have put forth given they had to be prepared for March.
Scott stated: “I would have mentioned, our athletes haven’t had access to any facility to train since March last year so technically, it would have been a year the games would have come and our athletes would have gone into the game so in depth of preparation. The only preparation, we were able to allow our athletes would have been land preparation, which is not appropriate for three months, but this is just for us to keep conditioning. So yes, we would have been at a disadvantage. And I’m hoping that these decisions will push it back even further.”
On Wednesday, president of the Barbados Amateur Swimming Association (BASA) Cheryl Lady Forde disclosed that her executive decided to postpone the championships.

In a statement, it read: “It is with the greatest regret that I must inform you that CARIFTA 2021, will not take place in Barbados as scheduled for March 26 -April 7. An Executive decision was taken this evening by the BASA to postpone CARIFTA 2021 after a review of the current COVID-19 situation in Barbados and by extension, in the region.” The country has a figure upward of 350 active cases and 11 deaths as a wave of new infections prompted Prime Minister Mia Mottley to announce new measures to lockdown the isle. Following the lockdown, the Barbadian association will move to have a date chosen that will align with the other CARIFTA member associations. Meanwhile, GASA is still struggling to get the ball rolling for its local athletes. The National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) is still adamant to not allow swimming activities to take place because they are not fully persuaded that mitigation of the virus is possible under swimming conditions. However, In light of this and still not seeing a definitive answer in sight for the recommencement of swimming activities locally, the GASA president stated that the association will continue to do whatever ground work is necessary to maintain the smooth flow of the association.