Celina set to camp in Nairobi for C’Games

        Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian upcoming female swimmer Celina Itatiro will camp in Nairobi ahead of the Commonwealth Games scheduled for Gold Coast, Queensland, in Australia from April 4-15 next year.

Celina is among the four swimmers, who will represent Tanzania in the games. She is currently training at Dar es Salaam International Academy (DIA) swimming pool under coaches, Michael Livingstone, Kanisi Mabena and Radhia Ngereza.

Other Tanzanian swimmers include Sonia Tumiotto, Collins Saliboko and Hilal Hemed Hilal. Sonia and Collins are undergoing training with St Felix School in Great Britain, while Hilal is in Dubai improving his records and skills.

Speaking with The Citizen, Dar es Salaam Swimming Club (DSC) coach Michael Livingstone said they were planning to go to Nairobi during holidays and train at a modern swimming pool. Michael said Tanzania had no such a modern swimming pool, which would record the exact record of swimmers compared to “the one we have”.

“Our aim is to make Celina gain experience in a long course swimming pool. We experienced problems during the Youth Commonwealth Games in Nassau, Bahamas, and in South Africa’s level two swimming championships. We need to train hard as we have only three months ahead of the games,” said Michael.

He explained that they had prepared an intensive training programme for her aiming at securing qualifying times ahead of the games.

Currently, only Tanzanian runners have been given assurance to compete in the games due to good performance and participation in athletics at various international competitions. Apart from runners and swimmers, Tanzania is also expected to field amateur boxers, disabled game and table tennis players.