Tanzania’s top male swimmer Hilal Hemed Hilal (right) posses with other swimmers after winning silver medal in Cana Zone swimming championship in Mauritius in April, 2016. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Hilal will represent Tanzania in the Rio Games after having won the universality ticket as per rules and regulations governing the game. Apart from Hilal, also in the universality place is female swimmer Magdalena Moshi who is in Australia.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s top male swimmer Hilal Hemed has joined the Dubai’s Hamilton Aquatic for training ahead of the Olympic Games scheduled for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5 to 21.
Hilal will represent Tanzania in the Rio Games after having won the universality ticket as per rules and regulations governing the game. Apart from Hilal, also in the universality place is female swimmer Magdalena Moshi who is in Australia.
Speaking with The Citizen, Hilal’s manager Asmah Hilal said the family has decided to send Hilal back to the ultramodern swimming academy in Dubai in order to ensure he is fit ahead of the big event.
Asmah said: “We want to see him perform better. That’s why he has started his training early. In order to win medals in global events, one needs to train properly and for a reasonable length of time.”
“The club has assisted him a lot. He is now top male swimmer in the country. We hope he will improve his standard before competing in the Olympic Games,” said Asmah.
She said the family was grateful to the Hamilton Aquatic management for its readiness to accept Hilal, who also doubles as the national swimming team captain. Hilal will return in the country on July 15 and later join the national Olympic team camp.
For his part, Hilal said he wanted to make history in the country for winning the first medal in the Olympic Games via swimming.
“My morale is high and I want to win medals for my country, Tanzania,” said Hilal.
Apart from swimming, Tanzania will also feature in athletics, amateur boxing and judo.
However Boxing Federation of Tanzania (BFT) and Judo Association of Tanzania (JATA) were yet to submit names of their athletes to represent the country via universality tickets to the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC).
TOC wrote letters to the bodies in April instructing them to submit names of selected athletes who would represent the country in the coming major global sporting event in Rio, Brazil.
