Bumper entry for swimming meet

Dar es Salaam. The 2017 National Swimming Championships will bring together 172 swimmers to battle it out for coveted medals at the Heaven of Peace Academy (Hopac) in Dar es Salaam.

This means 52 more swimmers have registered to compete in this year’s championships planned to get underway on Friday.

Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) secretary general Ramadhani Namkoveka told The Citizen yesterday that the swimmers who eye the coveted medals come from 15 clubs.

“We have 172 swimmers who beat the March 26 deadline for confirmation. It is almost a 30 per cent increase from last year’s championship,” said Namkoveka.

Her added: “Most of the swimmers come from 15 local clubs that the TSA recognises, but a few others come from their respective colleges abroad.”

“The rise in the number of competitors means that a panel of coaches selecting the national team swimmers will have a slightly tougher job.”

He disclosed that the swimmers who will make it to the national team fold will compete at the World Youth Swimming Championships slated for the US, World Swimming Championships (Budapest, Hungary) and Cana Zone Three, which will be hosted by Tanzania.

“We have three big championships this year, so our coached will have to be very careful when picking the Team Tanzania swimmers. We have to settle for the finest swimmers who can win us medals from the aforementioned events,” he said.

Namkoveka named the clubs which will have representatives at the national event as Dar es Salaam Swimming Club (DSC), Stingrays, Blue Fins, Champion Rise, Hopac, Morogoro International School (MIS), International School of Moshi (ISM) and Zanzibar’s Jeshi la Kujenga Uchumi (JKU).

Others are JKT, Kennedy House School of Arusha, Mwanza Swim Club, Taliss Swim Club, Wahoo Zanzibar, Zanzibar Dolphin and Zanzibar Police Swim Club.

Even as the national championship is three days away, the TSA official said they were in need of some Sh20 million to stage the event smoothly.