THE National Sports Commission (NSC) presented $1M to the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) towards supporting the 10 athletes scheduled to represent Guyana at the CARIFTA Swimming Championships.

Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, presented the NSC’s cheque to Valmiki Singh, GASA’s honorary treasurer towards their participation at the 35th hosting of the championships which will take place in Barbados, April 16-20.
Ninvalle said the NSC is committed to supporting the country’s national teams and athletes, but encouraged all National Federations and Associations to submit their plans and budget to receive the necessary funding.

Meanwhile, GASA president Dwayne Scott thanked the NSC, adding that the Commission is one of the more dependable partners of GASA and “has continued to show support to all our programmes”.
“GASA is extremely grateful to NSC, the Director of Sport and the Minister of Sport and Culture for their contribution and support towards our team’s participation at the 2022 CARIFTA Games,” Scott said.

Daniel Claxton, Elliot and Ethan Gonsalves, Marius (Open Water) and Mario Ramkhlawan, Nathan Jackson, Vishal Babulall, Shareefa Lewis, Amber DeGoeas (Open Water) and Zane Crane are the athletes representing Guyana.

Coach Shyka Gonsalves, coach Sean Baksh (Open Water) and Elkie Rodrigues (manager) are the officials travelling with the contingent.

At the 2019 CARIFTA Swimming Championships, Guyana finished with five medals – three gold and two bronze, -all of which were won by Olympian Aleka Persaud.
Competing in the Girls’ 11-12 category, Persaud won gold in the 100m fly and 50m free and 100m free events, while claiming bronze in the 200m and 50m fly events.