The battle for pool glory
Dar es Salaam. Three swimming clubs, Taliss-IST, Bluefins and Dar es Salaam Swimming Club (DSC), are locking horns to finish top in the ongoing Tanzania Junior Swimming Championships at the International School of Tanganyika (IST).
By end of day yesterday, Taliss-IST was leading the pack in both men and women categories.
The club has so far scored 623 points in the women category followed by Bluefins with 299 and DSC with 272 points. Zanzibar’s side, Wahoo, is fourth after collecting 90 points.
In men’s category, Taliss-IST is also at the top with 496 points followed by Bluefins with 364 and DSC in the third position with 216 points. Morogoro’s Mis Piranhas, is fourth with 108. The results are of event number 40.
More than 200 junior swimmers are competing in the event featuring clubs from Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. It has seen the swimmers competing in 50 disciplines on the first day while the 40th event reaches its climax today.
Besides the four clubs, another is Champion Rise, which is competing in the event under the sponsorship of SBC Tanzania (Pepsi).
Most swimmers yesterday struggled to win top honors in the event supervised by the Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA).
Bluefins Head coach and founder Rahim Alidina said they were very happy with the event staged for the second time in a row.
Alidina said they event was a platform for younger swimmers to gauge their skills after training for a long time.
DSC coach Michael Livingstone said they were happy with the event and so far their clubs had scouted talented swimmers.
“Junior swimmers are the foundation of the game. Here is the bank of the swimmers for the future. I give TSA a thumbs up for staging the event. Coaches will have time to access the swimmers development,” said Livingstone.
TSA secretary general Inviolata Itatiro said they were struggling to regulate and lay down a strong foundation in order to reach the standard that would bring reputation to the stakeholder.
“We are operating the association in difficulty circumstances as we do not have sponsors. However, we thank Pepsi for the support and now we are staging the junior game. It is good for the country as we need to make the country shine in international competitions,” said Inviolata.
