Six countries for Cana Zone 3 tourney in Dar
What you need to know:
- This will be the first time for Tanzania to host the championship, which is one of the major swimming competitions in Africa.
Six countries have so far confirmed their participation in the Africa Swimming Confederation (Cana) Zone 3 Championships opening on October 19 in the city.
This will be the first time for Tanzania to host the championship, which is one of the major swimming competitions in Africa.
Organised by Cana in collaboration with Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA), the three-day event will take place at the Heaven of Peace (Hopac) swimming pool.
In an interview with The Citizen yesterday, the championship organising committee chairperson, Leena Kapadia, named the countries as South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti and hosts Tanzania.
According to her, countries that have shown interest in taking part in the championship but have yet to confirm, are Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Rwanda and South Sudan.
Kapadia said that Zone 4 countries have also been invited for the championships.
The countries are Angola, Botswana, Comoro, Madagascar, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.
She said the door was still open to other countries wishing to field swimmers in the championship.
August 31 was the deadline for countries to confirm their participation in the event, according to the organizing committee chairperson.
She said some Zone 3 members failed to register for the event on time due to lack of funds.
“Financial constraints is one of the major factors behind the failure by some Zone Three members to beat the August 31 deadline for confirmation,” she said.
She appealed to firms and individuals for financial support, saying TSA needs at least Sh100 million to successfully host the championship.
“We have approached a number of firms for sponsorship but not of them has so far responded positively,” she said.
‘Over 200 swimmers from various countries across the continent are expected to battle it out for top honours during the championship. We are still striving to raise the money for the event,” she said.
Tanzania will field 60 swimmers at the competition. They are expected to embark on serious training later this month under the tutelage of coaches Alex Mwaipasi and Michael Livingstone.
The swimmers making up the national provisional squad are Sanford Charlotte Amooti, Natalia Ladha, Kayla Gouws, Maia Tumiotto, Chichi Zengeni, Rania Karume and Sarah Riyami, who will compete in the girls’ Under-12 category.
Also on the list are Marin Villard, Terry Tarimo, Ellia Imhoff, Judah Miller, Aravind Raghavendran and Jack Schipper, who will take part in the boys’ U-12 category.
Natalie Sanford, Celina Itatiro, Amani Doggart,Kayla Temba, Shivano Bhatt, Shivan, Vanessa Dickson, Elissa Shour, Delvin Barick, Oliver McIntosh, Khaleed Ladha, Abdullatif Mohameduwais, Fallih Ahmed, Kishi Tadashi and Dhashrrad Magesvaran will compete in the Under-14.
Those lined up for the girls’ U-16 are Sonia Tumiotto, Anna Guild, Emma Imhoff, Smriti Gokarn, Maya Somaiya, Larmey Epiphany while the boys’ team consists of Dennis Mhini, Collins Saliboko, Harry McIntosh,Chris Fitzpatrick, Aliasgar Chakera and Carter Helsby.
Others are Angelica Spence, Tara Behnsen, Marina Kaleb, Anjani Taylor, Zohra Dewji (girls); Hilal Hilal, Adil Bharmal, Charlie McIntosh, Matthew Guild,Emmanuel Stenson, Vernase Kangeta and Joseph Sumari (boys).
