Michelle De Bruin will miss valuable training time in her preparations for the World Championships in Perth next January following a car accident at the weekend in which she sustained a slight "whiplash" injury.

De Bruin was examined at the Blackrock clinic yesterday. Later, the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI), Pat Hickey, said in a statement: "The report was normal. The diagnosis was confirmed as a soft tissue injury causing pain on extension of her neck."

De Bruin is wearing a neck brace as a precautionary measure. "No evidence of neurological damage was present," the statement read. "There was no referred pain to the head or to the shoulder or arm." The injury is expected to interfe re with de Bruin's training over the coming weeks.

Dr Joseph Cummiskey, who examined de Bruin at the Blackrock Clinic, said it is too early to say whether the whiplash injury will significantly alter the swimmer's training programme. National coach Ger Doyle is understandably concerned about the possible consequences of any considerable disruption in de Bruin's training.

De Bruin and Colin Lowth are the only competitors to have achieved qualifying marks for Perth, but they are certain to be joined by at least two other swimmers, irrespective of qualifying times.

In essence, there are four members of Team 2000 looking for two places. They are: Olympians Nick O'Hare and Adrian O'Connor, and Lee Kelleher and Chantal Gibney. The notion at this stage is that the two swimmers who go closest to the qualifying marks will be selected. These four will compete at a longcourse meet in Vienna on November 21st-23rd.

Doyle warns that it will not be easy for any of the four to record good times at this stage of the new season. The team will be finalised on the evidence of performances in Vienna. O'Hare and O'Connor are the favourites to clinch their places despite poor displays in the European championship in Seville. But the ability of the two young women to turn the tables on their more experienced colleagues will not be in question. "The two lads should have done the times in the Europeans," said Doyle. "Things did not go right for them and they could just as well have the same problems in Austria. It could go absolutely brilliant for the two boys and disastrous for the girls or vice versa." Kelleher, following a mid-termbreak week of training with the national squad in Limerick, set the mood yesterday: "I have as good a chance as anyone else." Kelleher sees her best chance at 100 metres butterfly. Her current best is one minute 03.7 seconds.

Chantal Gibney is approximately half-a-second adrift of the required time for the 50 metres freestyle.

Meanwhile, Speedo is to sponsor the IASA's inaugural under-age Christmas Crackers gala at the Guinness pool on December 20th21st. Competition caters for competitors in the 7-12 age bracket, and the closing date for entries is next Friday.

The Half Moon water polo squad, the reigning Irish Cup holders, created a little piece of history in Turkey last week by becoming the first Irish club to win a match in the heady European Champions Cup. Shane Moraghan (5) and Jason Stynes (3) were the scorers in Half Moon's 8-4 win over Austrian champions Heindl Linz.

The Dubliners, coached by David Fitzgerald, went down to Slovenia (9-2), IYIK of Turkey (17-2) and Germany's Wuerzburg (19-2).