Sankar, Charles bathe in gold at Marlins pool

JOEL SANKAR of La Joya Torpedoes and Melanie Charles of host club Marlins sped away with three gold medals each as the annual Amateur Swimming Assocation of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT) Invitational Swim Meet began at the Marlins Swim Club, Westmoorings. On Friday night Sankar, competing in the Boys 11-12 age group, took gold in the boys 400-metre freestyle, 50m backstroke and 200m butterfly. Charles, participating in the Girls 15-and-over division, won the 400m free and 200m butterfly the same night and, on Saturday morning, the 400m individual medley. In the 400m free for Boys 11-12, Sankar touched the backboard in four minutes 56.35 seconds ahead of Flying Fish’s Osei Campbell (5:02.70) and Felix Miexner of Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre (5:04.32).

In the 50m backstroke, Sankar captured gold in 33.41 seconds with Tidal Wave’s Anthony Edwards (33.96) and David Edwards (34.27) following. And Sankar was unchallenged for the 200m fly gold medal, clocking 2:39.17 ahead of Campbell (2:49.32) and Ikenna Ward of Blue Dolphins (2:59.62). Charles was victorious in the 15-and-over 400m free (4:51.03), with Natasha George of Rodney Heights (4:55.63) and Barbadian Tamara Haynes of Alpha Swim Club (5:34.97) behind. She also won the 200m fly in 2:38.50, with George (2:42.15) and Marlins’ Cailin Ahloy (3:08.31) trailing. Her third victory was in the 400IM in a slow 5:29.09, ahead of George 5:49.08 and Rohini Mankee of Flying Fish 6:54.71. Three national representatives collected two gold medals apiece — Nicholas Bovell of Piranhas and the Marlins duo of Jules Graham and Shannon Duval. In the Boys 15-and-over 400m free, Bovell sped to the wall in 4:15.69, ahead of Marlins’ John Littlepage (4:21.96) and Piranhas’ Sebastien Paddington (4:30.52) and, in the 50m backstroke, Bovell clocked 27.90, followed by Tidal Wave’s Orlando Thom (28.67) and Marlins’ Christian Espinet (28.94).