THE 17TH Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships (CISC) begin this evening at 6:00 at the National Stadium Pool with an opening ceremony followed by a water polo match.

The championships include swimming, water polo and synchronised swimming and run until next Tuesday.

The event will feature several Olympic qualifiers including Jamaica's Jevon Atkinson, Alia Atkinson and Natasha Moodie. Also competing will be Jan Roodzant of Aruba, Shaun Frazer of the Cayman Islands, St Lucia's Danielle Beaubrun and the Bahamian trio of Alanda Dillette, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace and Elvis Vereance Burrows. Strong gold medal candidates for Jamaica include Breanna Roman (11-12 50, 100m freestyle), Stephanie Webley (11-12 50, 100m butterfly), Ramon Walton (15-17 50, 100m backstroke) and Dominic Walter (15-17 50, 100m freestyle).

Jamaica finished sixth in swimming at the last championships in 2006 in Puerto Rico with 23 medals - six gold, eight silver and nine bronze. They were third in synchronised swimming with two bronze medals.

"The pool is ready but we need to get water in it," said Eyre. "The water pressure is very low there and we need some transformers for the electricity to be able to pump the water in the pool," he said. "We are hoping we can make it for the last couple days down there. The exposure is important."