Confident Jamaica expect to do well at CISC

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

With less than a week to go before the start of the Caribbean Island Swimming Championships (CISC), which will be held in Havana, Cuba, from June 29 to July 2, Jamaica's head coach, Jackie Walter, said confidence is high going into the tournament.

The Jamaicans, who are schedule to leave the island today, won the overall championship which was held at the National Stadium two years ago. The championship also included water polo and synchronised swimming.

"Based on our CARIFTA results, we are definitely going to do well at this championships," Walter said. She added: "French teams do not go to this meet, and they are usually strong teams.

"I think that Puerto Rico and the Dominica Republic will replace them and they are not as strong. We definitely can be right up there in the medal standings."However, Walter said that despite sending a smaller contingent to this championships, compared to the one that won the last tournament, she is expecting a good all-round performance from our youngsters.

"Our preparations have gone fairly well. We have selected 18 swimmers and they have been training well together, because we swam at a meet two weeks ago and we had some good performances and so I expect that to continue at the championships," Walter said.

Jamaica's charge for the medals will be led by CARIFTA Games double-gold medallist Timothy Wynter, long with Kavaughn Campbell and Dominic Walter, who also won gold medals at the championships.

On the girls' side, Kendese Nangle and Ivana Chang, who both won silver medals at the CARIFTA Games, will lead the hunt for medals.