D-day for young swimmers in talent search tournament

Dar es Salaam. The Champion Rise Swimming tournament climaxes today at the Shaaban Robert Secondary School a featuring a total of 139 swimmers, more than double the number of competitors in last year’s event.

The two-day event was organised by Champion Rise Swimming Club.

Amina Mfaume, the club’s director, said the contest was aimed at scouting and developing young swimmers in the country.

This year’s event has been sponsored by Pepsi, Champion Rise Limited and Aqua Pool Limited.

Last year, only 45 swimmers featured in the event. “We are happy about the positive results; parents have shown commitment and desire to see their children involved in the game,” she said.

“We are still growing and we do believe that the third edition will be much bigger and better.”

Adult swimmers also participated in the event as part of a health promotion campaign.

Swimming is considered a good all-round activity because it keeps the heart rate up and takes some of the impact stress off your body.

It also builds endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness, and helps maintain a healthy weight, healthy heart and lungs.

“Swimmers from four years to six years swum in the 25 metre contest, while others swum in 50m and 100m,” Mfaume noted.

Swimming styles included the freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and Individual Medley (IM).

“It is a very exciting event and we have identified some potential swimmers for future national assignments. These include Kaysan Kachra, who turned out to be one of the best young swimmers after featuring in all events, ” she said.

Mfaume said each category would see three winners taking home gold, silver and bronze medals.