Rwanda, Sudan to field athletes at Cana event

Dar es Salaam. Rwanda and Sudan have finally confirmed to feature in the three-day African Swimming Confederation (Cana) Zone III Swimming Championship planned to start on October 19 at the Heaven of Peace (Hopac) here.

The two countries join six other nations that have already confirmed their participation, the Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) organising committee chairperson, Leena Kapadia said on Saturday.

Leena named other countries set for the event as South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti and host Tanzania. However, she disclosed that the two countries have not yet confirmed the number players they would send to the championship, which will be held in the country for the first time in history.

“They have written to us about their confirmation, so the number of countries has increased to eight. This has delighted us because we need a competitive event. However, we are still struggling get the money make this event a success,” said Leena.

Leena is also optimistic that the number of participating countries will increase because they did not restrict the participation deadline.

“Our target is to promote the game by seeing as many countries as possible compete in the tournament. We hope to have a few more countries for the championship, so we will not close the entry,” she said.

Kapadia said many countries planned to compete in the event, but due to lack of fund, they have failed to confirm as it was planned.

She said that TSA is still looking for sponsors to support the event. According to Kapadia, the total budget is Sh100 million and called on stakeholders to support them as they are hosting the tournament for the first time.

“We are racing against time to find sponsors. We have to complete preparations before the arrival date of the swimmers, so we need enough money as early as possible because we will host over 200 of them,” said Kapadia. Currently various companies have confirmed their financial support including Vodacom Tanzania which has sponsored medals and trophies for the would-be winners.

Others are JCDecaux (billboards), Label Promotions (billboards), Print Galore (printing of billboards and posters) and Slipway Hotel.

Also in the list are Swissair, which will sponsor tickets for the swimmers from the UK to enable them to come and compete. The Tanzanian swimmers based in the UK are Sonia Tumiotto, Smriti Gokarn, Anjani Taylor, Collins Saliboko, Natalie Sanford and Marin De Villard.

Tanzania will be represented by 60 swimmers who are now in camp under coaches Alex Mwaipasi and Michael Livingstone.

The swimmers who have been selected to form the national swimming team are, Sanford Charlotte Amooti, Natalia Ladha, Kayla Gouws, Maia Tumiotto, Chichi Zengeni, Rania Karume, and Sarah Riyami. They will compete in the Under-12 girls category.

Boys who will compete in a similar category are Terry Tarimo, Ellia Imhoff, Judah Miller, Aravind Raghavendran and Jack Schipper.

In the category for the girls aged between 13 and 14, Tanzania will be represented by Natalie Sanford, Celina Itatiro, Amani Doggart,Kayla Temba, Shivano Bhatt,Shivan, Vanessa Dickson, Elissa Shour while Delvin Barick,Oliver McIntosh, Khaleed Ladha, Abdullatif Mohameduwais, Fallih Ahmed, Kishi Tadashi, and Dhashrrad Magesvaran do so in the boys competition.

Other Tanzanian swimmers expected to leave a mark at the championship are Sonia Tumiotto, Anna Guild, Emma Imhoff, Smriti Gokarn, Maya Somaiya, Larmey Epiphany, Dennis Mhini, Collins Saliboko, Harry McIntosh,Chris Fitzpatrick, Aliasgar Chakera and Carter Helsby.

The list also includes Angelica Spence, Tara Behnsen, Marina Kaleb, Anjani Taylor, Zohra Dewji, Hilal Hilal, Adil Bharmal, Charlie McIntosh, Matthew Guild,Emmanuel Stenson, Vernase Kangeta and Joseph Sumari.