...ASATT president says medal will motivate youths

SHERDON PIERRE

Dylan Carter’s silver medal at the Commonwealth Games yesterday continues a week of success for the local swimming fraternity who recently competed impressively at the CARIFTA Championships in Jamaica. Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT) president Wendell Lai Hing yesterday was elated with the news of 22 year old Carter’s historic performance in Gold Coast, Australia in the Men’s 50m butterfly final.

“The first swimmer from TT to ever win a medal at these Games is a great achievement.

A medal at that level against the top Commonwealth teams is something to be proud of. Dylan has been working very hard; he just came off the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) season in his final year in university,” he said.

Lai Hing continued, “He has graduated from age group to Open swimming and has taken up the mantle that George Bovell III would have left us with.”

He explained, “There is a big gap between age group and Open swimming, but to see Carter who swam at several CARIFTA and is now achieving great success at senior level, can actually energise the younger ones towards reaching where Dylan is right now.”

He added, “There were some excellent swimmers at the recently concluded CARIFTA. One of our dreams in TT is to field a relay team at the next Olympics and with Dylan and other senior swimmers like Joshua Romany and the Mc McLeod brothers, it looks like we are on the right pathway.”

When asked if the Ministry of Sport athlete reward policy should include Commonwealth Games, Lai Hing said, “For now, no, we should leave it with World Championship and Olympics.

It is not the entire world as such, only the Commonwealth countries, the argument may begin that we should go to Pan Am Championships as well and we may start to water it down.” He concluded, “However, with elite athletes, funding should be an incentive for you to keep representing your country.”