Dar club swimmers steal show at national tourney

Tanzania’s female swimmer Sonia Tumiotto competes in the National Swimming Championships at the Heaven of Peace Academy (Hopac) in Dar es Salaam on Saturday. PHOTO/ MAJUTO OMARY

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The event, which attracted 13 clubs from different regions, saw Taliss garner 3,587 points thanks to Hilal Hilal and Adil Bharmal, who led their teammates to multiple medals. The male swimmers claimed the top spot after scoring 1,886 points while their sisters were equally outstanding after taking the top place following a haul of 1,681 points.

Dar es Salaam. Taliss Swimming Club must celebrating wildly after being declared as the overall winners of the National Swimming Championships that climaxed at the Heaven of Peace Academy (Hopac) on Saturday.

The event, which attracted 13 clubs from different regions, saw Taliss garner 3,587 points thanks to Hilal Hilal and Adil Bharmal, who led their teammates to multiple medals. The male swimmers claimed the top spot after scoring 1,886 points while their sisters were equally outstanding after taking the top place following a haul of 1,681 points.

Taliss head coach Alex Mwaipasi lavished praise on the swimmers for winning both titles for the second year in a row.

According to him, commitment exhibited by the swimmers, club leaders and coaches was the secret of their success.

“We are all over the moon following such feat. Kudos to the swimmers for putting up outstanding displays at the championship. It wasn’t easy at all,” said the trainer.

“This time around we had 172 swimmers, an increase of almost a third of last year’s competitors, so you can imagine the level of competition our swimmers had to deal with.” Mwaipasi also congratulated the Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) for successfully organising the championship, which comprised a lot of swimmers.

“The TSA also deserves credit. We have a bigger number of competitors compared to recent editions; this shows that swimming is moving in the right direction,” he said. Dar es Salaam Swimming Club (DSC), one of the clubs producing the finest swimmers, settled for the second place after collecting a total of 2,587 point.

The team, which comprised the likes of Sonia Tumiotto, Smriti Gorkarn, Celina Itatiro and Maia Tumiotto, won several medals to warrant their place.

DSC secretary general Inviolata Itatiro hailed the swimmers saying they represented their club well considering the number of event that they competed in. The club fielded 26 swimmers.

“We are satisfied with the performance of our swimmers. Finishing second is quite an achievement because we did not field a big team this time around,” she said.

The third place went to Morogoro International Swimming Club (MIS Piranha) who collected 1,434 points followed by Mwanza Swim Club (MSC) who scored 1,122 points. Wahoo of Zanzibar finished in the fifth position with 497 points while Bluefins settled for the sixth slot with 442 followed by Championrise with 221.

Other clubs with points and their places in brackets are International School of Moshi (202, 8), KMKM (144,9), Kennedy House School (118,10), Zanzibar Dolphins (76,11), Hopac (70,12) and JKT (32, 13).

TSA secretary general, Ramadhan Namkoveka thanked sponsors Davis & Shirtliff, CRDB Bank, Mediterraneo Hotel & Restaurant, Coca Cola, Aggrey & Clifford and The Terrace for making the championship a grand success.