WAIS Swimmer Selected for Commonwealth Youth Games
Fourteen emerging Australian swimmers are bound for Britain after gaining selection on the 2011 Commonwealth Games Youth Team that is set to compete in the Isle of Man from September 7-13.
Included in the talent pool, is emerging WAIS athlete Adelaide Hart, who trains under the eye of WAIS coach Kareena Preston. Hart will join with a select group of talented swimmers from across Australia in competition against the best of the best emerging swimmers from around the world.
Australian Swimmers, aged between 14 and 17 years, gained selection through standout performances at the recent Australian Championships in Sydney and Australian Age Championships that were held at the new SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Adelaide, in April.
The 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games will be contested by a record number of 71 nations, competing across seven different sports, with the Australian Commonwealth Games Association and Swimming Australia’s support ensuring swimming is set to factor in a number of medal moments.
One such medal hope is 16-year-old Victorian Kotuku Ngawati, who burst onto the international swimming scene last year when she won silver in the 100m IM at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Dubai.
Ngawati will spearhead an exuberant line up of swimming talent that also boasts Queensland star Leah Neale, who last month became the first Australian 15-year-old in history to break the two minute barrier in the 200m freestyle hitting the wall in 1:59.80.
On the boy’s side, Sydney based 16-year-old Te Haumi Maxwell will be looking to recapture the form that saw him claim the 15 year boy’s 50m freestyle Australian age record at the 2010 Junior Pan Pacs in Hawaii last year, while Victorian Alex Graham will be out to capitalize on the form that saw him win a brace of freestyle gold medals at last month’s Australian Age Championships.
Australian Team General Manger Petria Thomas, who like Ngawati made her national team debut as a 16-year-old at the 1993 Pan Pacs, endorses the Games and the valuable international competition it provides.
“I think it’s vital for emerging swimmers in their teenage years to be exposed to the rigors of such tough international competition, said Thomas.
“The 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games provides such a platform for some of Australia’s best young swimmers to gain valuable racing and travel experience during the developmental stages of their career.”
The 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games on the Isle of Man will be the fourth edition. They have previously been held in 2000 in Edinburgh, Scotland; 2004 in Bendigo, Australia; 2008 in Pune, India.
– Swimming Australia