Sonia: It was not an easy job for me

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania top female swimmer, Sonia Tumiotto has said it was not an easy task for her to win three medals in the just ended Dubai International Aquatic Championship, dubbed Rio 2016 Olympic qualifiers event.

Sonia was among four Tanzania national swimming team members who represented the country in the championship, which ended on Thursday and managed to win one gold and two bronze medals. Others are Hilal Hilal, Collins Saliboko and Aliasghar Karimjee. The trio did not won medals.

Speaking after arriving yesterday, Sonia said the competition was very tough. She said many swimmers targeted medals, improving their personal time as well as searching for Olympic qualifications.

“I was also having the same mission, so what I did was to fight hard and win these medals, I am proud for that because getting medals in such international competition is my first time in history,”

“Many swimmers from across the world featured in the event, some of them were familiar with the competition organised by the World swimming body (Fina).

My fellow swimmers featured for the first time, it was a real challenge,” she said.

Tanzania national swimming team manager, Leena Kapadia said the event featured 900 swimmers from 60 countries who were also searching for Olympic qualifications.

Leena said it was not an easy competition and Tanzanian swimmers made efforts to shine in the event.

Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) said Sonia has made them proud for being the first Tanzanian to triumph after she bagged medals since the country attained its Independent in 1961.

TSA secretary general, Ramadhan Namkoveka said Sonia proved that Tanzania can be promoted via the game which is now gaining momentum.

“Our target was not medals, we were aiming at time improvements for our swimmers, but Sonia managed to win three medals, Aliasghar Karimjee qualified for the final twice and Hilal Hilal once, Collins also made efforts for the country, we congratulate all of them for the best job,” said Namkoveka.

Sonia’s coach, Michael Livingstone said self-motivation, efforts and talent made Sonia to excel in the event. Livingstone, the coach of Dar Swimming Club (Sonia’s club) believes that Tanzania has so many swimmers, but is not engaged in the game due to lack facilities.

“We need to encourage them to feature in the game, but there is no public swimming pool they can train without paying money, this is a big challenge,” said Livingstone.

Dar Swim Club secretary general, Inviolata Itatiro applauded all swimmers for the best show and called on parents to motivate their children to engage in the game.

Inviolata said the game has many challenges, but her club can volunteer to train local swimmers for the benefit of the nation.

“Bring your children at the club, we have good coaches who prepared Sonia before joining St Felix school in England, we want to see everybody practice swimming,” said Inviolata.