Over one hundred disciplines to spice up Taliss-IST swimming championships in Tanzania

What you need to know:

The Taliss-IST swimming club team manager Hadija Shebe told The Citizen on Thursday, February 20, 2020 that 71 disciplines would be contested on the first day and the remaining ones on the second day of the competition.

Dar es Salaam. A total of 105 swimming disciplines will be contested during the much awaited Taliss-IST swimming championships to be held for two days starting on Saturday at the International School of Tanganyika (IST) Masaki.

The Taliss-IST swimming club team manager Hadija Shebe told The Citizen on Thursday, February 20, 2020 that 71 disciplines would be contested on the first day and the remaining ones on the second day of the competition.

Jubilee Insurance, Nissan and Azam are sponsoring the event.

Hadija said they have decided to have 105 disciplines with the aim of gauging the swimmers’ endurance in the competition that features nine clubs from both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.

She said the event is in the Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) calendar and is used to gauge the swimmers' progress in the game.

“We want swimmers to compete in as many events as possible. We prepare them to be stars so there is no room of being in the comfort zone in the game. They have to fight hard in order to become stars,” said Hadija.

The event will see 228 swimmers compete in five different styles and relays including backstrokes, butterflies, individual medleys, breaststrokes and freestyles.

The clubs with their swimmers in brackets are Taliss-IST (78), Bluefins (39) and the Dar es Salaam Swimming Club (DSC) that will field 31 swimmers.

The other clubs are Mis Piranhas (27), International School of Zanzibar alias Wahoo (6), FK Blue Marlins (25), Braeburn (9), Wahoo (6) and  United World College East Africa (UWCEA) that will be represented by 13 swimmers.

This is the second swimming event as per the TSA calendar. The first event was organised by Morogoro International School (MIS).

The swimmers will compete in various events categorized according to age. Age categories for swimmers, both boys and girls, in the event will be for Under-eight, 9 and 10, 11 and 12, 13 and 14 and 15 and above.

The event will see the country’s top-ranked swimmers battle it out with swimmers from other clubs in the country. Hadija said they are now in intensive preparations for the event aimed at promoting the game in the country.

“The event has been organised in order to make all swimmers busy and maintain their standards in the game,” said Hadija.  Awards will be given to holders of the first three positions in each event.