Local swimmers protest at Liliendaal

…GASA President denies involvement

A number of local swimmers took advantage of the brilliant sunshine on Saturday morning to stage a protest calling for the reopening of the National Aquatic Center for the purpose of training.
The protest action by the swimmers comes after months of pent-up frustration at not being able to train and keep their bodies well oiled.
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit Guyana in March 2020, all local sport facilities were closed to the public and sports associations, out of fear of transmitting the virus. However, in 2021, with a number of international events likely to go ahead, the local swimmers are still being denied the opportunity to train, while their athletics counterparts from selected other sports are being able to do so.
As such, the swimmers and their parents took to the Aquatic Center, displaying placards with suggestions for the National COVID-19 Task Force.
In a strange twist of events, President of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA), Dwayne Scott, denied knowledge of the protest. Contacted via telephone by <<Guyana Times Sport>> on Saturday afternoon, Scott informed that the protest action was neither sanctioned nor planned by the GASA.
Scott explained that the executives recently had a sit-down in which no such action was discussed, and he, in his capacity as President of the Swimming Association, is still in discussion with the National COVID-19 Task Force on the way forward for the country’s swimmers.
To date, the only swimming athletes that are currently training in Guyana are Andre Fowler and Jamila Sanmoogan, who are both preparing for the South American Swimming Championships, slated to be held from March 14-29 in Argentina; and, hopefully, the Tokyo Olympics, which will run from July 23 to August 8.