Tanzania swimmers shine in South Africa Level Three event
Tanzania swimmers and officials pose after finishing day two of the South Africa’s Level Three championships. The team won 38 medals in the event held at Eastern Gauteng’s Germiston. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Tanzania swimmers, also known as the High Performance Training (HPT) squad, managed to win 27 gold, seven silver and four bronze medals
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania swimmers have continued to shine in South Africa’s Level Three championships after winning a total of 64 medals in the three days of the event taking place at Eastern Gauteng’s Germiston Delville swimming pool.
The swimmers, also known as the High Performance Training (HPT) squad, managed to win 44 gold, 12 silver and 18 bronze medals, according to the results.
However, the results of the final day are yet to be released due to unavoidable reasons. The team’s head coach Alexander Mwaipasi commended the swimmers for the best show.
“The swimmers have done their best when compared to the previous results of the competition. We have managed to promote the name of our country and I am sure that they will be among the top teams in the competition. Lets’ wait for the results,” said Mwaipasi.
He said the results have impressed him, showing how the swimmers in the country are heading to the positive direction.
“In the past event, Tanzania swimmers were struggling to record the best results.
This time around things are different as we have managed to score high in many events. “Basically, all the swimmers have done well with some setting new Personal Best Times (PBTs).
“We had just 16 swimmers who made us proud out 635 from various countries on the African continent,” he said, noting that the results are the milestone of the game in the country.
“This shows how best we have been performing and giving the real picture that we have so many talented swimmers in the country,” he said.
However, he said the climate has been an obstacle to them in the event because it is too cold when compared to Tanzania.
“It is very cold, but our swimmers have somehow acclimatized. Let Tanzanians expect to get more medals in the coming events,” he said.
The event features 635 swimmers from whom 320 are female and the rest are male. The swimmers competed in 4,709 individual entries with 194 relays to make a total of 4,903 events.
The swimmers in the women’s category are Lorita Borega, Crissa Dillip, Bridget Heep, Filbertha Demello, Sydney Hardeman, Sophia Latiff and Ria Save.
For men are Max Missokia, Julius Missokia, Mark Tibazarwa, Sebastian Carpintero, Austin Okore, Romeo Mwaipasi, Delbert Ipilinga, Peter Itatiro and Michael Joseph.
They are under coaches Alexander Mwaipasi and Michael Livingstone while officials are Inviolata Itatiro (team manager), Maiju Missokia (assistant tea manager). Carmen Demello (matron) and parents namely Abraham Okore, Fuad Latiff, Megan Hardeman, Monica Joseph and Rupal Save.
