Coach confident mark can be broken

Dubai: The UAE's American swimming coach Jay Benner is confident Obaid Al Jasmi can lower at least a second and a half from his present 100 metre freestyle time during the Olympic Games.

"He has trained well and I cannot see any reason why Obaid won't be able to lower his best time by at least by one and a half seconds," Benner told Gulf News.

The coach will be accompanying the UAE swimmer at the Beijing Games. Al Jasmi is due to race in the 100 metres freestyle heats on August 12.

"He has had a good eight weeks training in Tunisia, and before that he had four weeks in Abu Dhabi. Our focus was to ensure he gets the better of his lifetime best in the 100 freestyle," Benner stated.

"With the times he is currently clocking, it is a bit too unrealistic to think about a final or a medal. But he can aspire for a lifetime best time so that he can go in with a lot of confidence during the Gulf Swimming Championships," Benner added.

The Gulf Swimming Championships will be held in Abu Dhabi from August 21-27.