THE South American Swimming and Diving Championships, which is scheduled for March 14 – 29 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, will see three of Guyana’s top athletes participating.

Guyana’s Olympic hopefuls, Jameela Sanmoogan, Andrew Fowler and Leon Seaton are currently engaged in training for the biennial aquatics championships for countries from the South American Swimming Confederation (CONSANAT).

The Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) were given permission to allow Fowler and Sanmoogan to use the Lilliendaal Aquatic Centre in preparation for the SA Championships and Summer Olympics, while Seaton is engaged in training abroad.

Speaking with president of the GASA, Dwayne Scott, he said, “Leon is currently in Florida on the scholarship programme while Jameela and Andrew continue to do their workout at the Aquatic Centre. Andrew Fowler’s programme is doing really well. I have assigned him with an international coach with international accreditation and they’re doing really well.”

Confirming their participation, Scott disclosed, “They’re booked and will be receiving the accreditation latest next week to be traveling to the championships where they will be able to gear themselves against other international athletes to see how the preparations are going.”

He continued: “We expect to see good results. Of course, the training is not geared for them to peak at this event, so we don’t expect to see the best performances, but it will also help us to gauge their preparation to see what more needs to be done to tweak their overall performance. All in all, its a good process and they’re all very enthusiastic and hard working towards achieving the goals and we look forward to some really good stuff coming out of the South American Championships and leading up to the Olympics.”

Argentina’s pandemic state
This will be the eighth time Argentina has been tasked with the hosting of the South American Swimming Championships which will enter its 45th edition.

However, the Argentines have had a torrid time with the pandemic which has claimed 51,946 lives and still has over 5000 activate cases. Hopefully, this comes under control with the administration of the vaccines to counter the virus.

In March 2020, all sporting activities were cancelled in Argentina which also included the premier swimming event that was scheduled for March 21 to April 5.