ENERGY Drink company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), under its Lucozade Sport brand, boosted the Amateur Swimming Association of Jamaica's (ASAJ's) fund-raising drive for the 15th Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships (CISC) with a $500,000 contribution yesterday.
Jamaica will be hosts of the CISC for the third time from July 1-6 at the National Stadium Pools. The championships were previously held here in 1976 and 1994.
Marketing manager of GSK, Robeth Streete, made the announcement at a press briefing yesterday at the company's Beechwood Avenue address.
"There is so much athletic talent in Jamaica and we want to ensure that we are helping to harness and develop that talent through our product Lucozade Sport," Streete said.
SANCTIONED BY FINA
Swimming, water polo and synchronised swimming are the events that will be contested over the six-day championships which have been sanctioned by FINA, the world governing body for swimming, as a qualifying event for the Olympics in Athens, Greece, August 12-29.
The championships are expected to attract over 500 competitors from 20 Caribbean countries and will be the last major regional event before the Summer Games.
While the ASAJ was grateful for GSK's sponsorhip, president John Eyre said it represented only a fraction of the total needed to stage the event and that they are still in need of $5 million.
"(The sponsorship) represents one-sixteenth of our deficit. We received $2.5 million from the SDF (Sports Development Foundation) so that along with this sponsorhip helped to cut the deficit." he said.
Eyre added that Jamaica will be fielding a strong team for all three events, particularly swimming which they will try to win for the first time.
"We're going to ensure that we have a full team, including our Olympic qualifiers. I believe that we have a chance for the first time ever to win it and we've challenged our swimmers to train for that and focus on that idea," he said.
Janelle Atkinson, Alia Atkinson (no relation to Janelle) and Angela Chuck have qualified for Jamaica and Eyre said the presence of these swimmers at the championships will add another level of competitiveness.
"The presence of Janelle, Angela and Alia will heighten the intensity of the competition," Eyre said.
