Oceania spots on the line

THE country’s best swimmers will battle it out for spots on the national team at the 2018 Theodist National Swimming Championships from March 16-18 at the Taurama Aquatic Centre.
PNG Swimming Inc president Elizabeth Wells said national titles would bring together talented and aspiring athletes from around the country and overseas to compete for a final berth on the 12th Oceania Swimming Championships to be held in Port Moresby from June 25-30, and the Fiji Junior Pan Pacific titles from Aug 23-26.
Wells said she was expecting to see “some excellent performances” from swimmers competing in their individual events in all four strokes — 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle; 50m, 100m, 200m breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly and 200m, 400m individual medley events, as well as the relay events that will be contested over four sessions.
“It will also be a competition where we will see our Commonwealth Games athletes Josh Tarere and Leonard Kalate from the Lae club and Ashley Seeto, Sam Seghers and Ryan Maskelyne from the Boroko club compete against each other,” Wells said.
As swimmers race towards swimming personal best times, with the hope of capturing a PNG record in the process, they will also be racing towards a time to place them on the BSP Kundu national aquatic excellence squads which include the junior silver and gold, intermediate silver and gold and the bronze, silver, gold, platinum and diamond target squads.
Swimmers from Boroko and Lae clubs’ under the guidance of their respective coaches are in their final stages of their training programmes to race fast over the championship weekend.
The PNG Masters Club swimmers will also be represented in competition.
Wells said a feeling of excitement and eager expectation was starting to be felt by our swimmers as they prepared for the event.
Club carnivals in both Lae and Port Moresby had been held over the past weeks to help with race preparation and setting new times.
“We’ll also see our team of technical officials on deck to allow the competition to be run under the FINA rules through the guidance and direction of our FINA referee Sue Babao and FINA starter Albert Vigil,” Wells said.
This competition is a lead-up event for the hosting of the Oceania Championships in June, and will allow the organising committee to prepare well.
PNG Swimming Inc thanked Theodist Limited for their continued sponsorship and promotion of this event allowing the sport to provide a platform for athletes to showcase their talent in the pool.
The Boroko Amateur Swimming Club with the PNGSI executive will host the event.