Scerri sets third age-group record

Neptunes' swimmer Kyle Scerri yesterday established another age-group record at the National Pool during the second and final day of the 2003 national championships at Tal-Qroqq.

As happened on the opening day on Saturday, yesterday there was another spate of personal best times coming from various categories, but, the performance which stood out most was that of Scerri, 14.

He put his name down in the ASA age-group record books for the third time this year after a 26.99-second sprint in the 50m freestyle.

The previous record, 27.20, belonged to Kenny D'Ugo in 1997.

Scerri yesterday also lowered his age-group record for the 50m 'fly (28.60 from 29.34). Earlier this year he had set a 100m 'fly age group record - 1:03.72.

The national championships also brought to a close Attila Selmeci's four-year stint as ASA national swimming coach. He is expected to return to his homeland Hungary in the coming days.

There was an unexpectedly flat ending to the championships, however, yesterday. The starting time of the last session on the programme, scheduled at 6 p.m., provoked some arguments between the officials.

No compromise was reached and unfortunately the events were held only in an unofficial way with timings recorded manually. That ruled out any possibility of a national record being recognised.