FINA promises to support modern pool construction

Dar es Salaam. The International Swimming Federation (FINA) has pledged to support the Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) to tackle various challenges including construction of a modern swimming pool.

This was stated by FINA president Husain Al Musallam during the first swimming convention held at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre.

Al Musallam said they were impressed with the swimming talents in Tanzania and one of them (Collins Saliboko) has been awarded a nine-month scholarship by their federation. He said one of the reasons that made them visit Tanzania is the game development in the country. Tanzania is the first African country to be visited by the high level of swimming leaders.

According to Al Musallam, they have discussed the matter with the TSA leadership as well as the government and what is needed now is joint efforts to make the construction of the swimming pool a success. “Please, to be clear, the task of developing the sport of swimming is not limited to FINA, there are governments, associations and stakeholders. In partnership with the Tanzanian government, the swimming association and stakeholders, I believe we can make this construction a success, ” said Al Musallam. He said FINA wants to see the swimmer competes in the sport without facing a stiff challenge and does well in various events.

“We also want to see an athlete gets healthier once he decides to retire. This will help him to continue to love the game and inspire others. Let me make it clear, Tanzania is one of the countries that have made progress in the game, despite various challenges, we are very impressed with this,” he said. For his part, the Director of Sports Development in the country, Yusuph Singo, said the government is relieved by the arrival of the FINA leaders and has already shown its artwork and the area set aside for the construction of a modern 50-meter swimming pool. “First of all, the arrival of the president of FINA and other senior leaders of the federation is a great honour for the country. No African country has ever had such a great arrival in history and Tanzania has been the first. As a government, we are very relieved and congratulate TSA for a great job they have done,” said Singo. TSA Chairman Imani Alimanya said they have submitted their plans to FINA regarding the game development and they believe they will succeed.

Alimanya said one of their goals is to make Tanzania a major swimming training centre (High Performance Training Center).

For his part, the 3rd Confederation of African Swimming Confederation (CANA Zone 3) president, Donald Rukare, commended FINA for choosing only Tanzania in its region to visit for promoting the sport of swimming. Besides Al Musallam, another high-ranking official in the tour is Sam Ramasamy, who is the African swimming federation president.

Ramasamy is also the vice president of FINA. Also in the tour are John Nowicki, who is FINA’s executive director and Chaykh Ahmad Al Saab, who is the assistant executive to the president of FINA.

There are also Alex Szanto (FINA delegate), Mikolaus Schonfeldt (assistant to the FINA president) and former Olympic champion Ferry Weertam and Ranom Kromowidjojo, a former champion of the world and the Olympics.