Tanzania Junior swimmers event take place today

Swimmers ready for action during the National Swimming Championships in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO | MAJUTO OMARY

What you need to know:

The event has been organised by Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) with the sponsorship from SBC Tanzania (Pepsi). TSA secretary general, Inviolata Itatiro said the event will have four age categories, namely under seven years old, eight and nine years, 10 and 11 years, and 12 years old.

Dar es Salaam. More than 200 U-12 years swimmers today start their campaign to win various titles in the Tanzania Junior Swimming Championships at the International School of Tanganyika (IST), Upanga in Dar es Salaam.

The event has been organised by Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) with the sponsorship from SBC Tanzania (Pepsi). TSA secretary general, Inviolata Itatiro said the event will have four age categories, namely under seven years old, eight and nine years, 10 and 11 years, and 12 years old. Inviolata said TSA has organised the junior event to promote the sport, besides giving international experience to budding swimmers.

“This is the second edition of the event in the country and it is a continuation of TSA’s mission to raise awareness and promote swimming,” she noted.

She said that trophies will be awarded to the top three swimmers in each age group while medals will be given for the top three swimmers. The medals are gold, silver and bronze for the first, second and third winners respectively.

“Points will be allocated for the first to 10th places. The top swimmer will get 20 points, second (16), third (14) points, fourth (12 points), fifth (10 points), sixth (8 points), seventh (6 points), eighth (4 points), ninth (2 points) and 10th will get one point,” said inviolata.

Inviolata said in order to spice up the event, TSA has included open age events to enable younger swimmers of different ages to show their ability by competing against older ones.

The open age events to be competed are 400 metres Individual Medley (IM), 400 metres freestyle and 800 metres freestyle.

The age groups are seven years olds and under eight and nine, ten and eleven and 12. She said swimmers under seven years will contest in 25m freestyle, 25m breaststroke, 25 metres backstroke, 25 metres butterfly), 50 metres freestyle, 50 metres backstroke and 100 metres Individual Medley (IM).