National swimming team to camp Sept 18
Celina Itatiro of Dar Swim Club takes part in the national championship at Hopac recently. PHOTO|MAJUTO OMARY
What you need to know:
- Earlier, the team was scheduled to start preparations from today, but due to unavoidable reasons, the camp has been rescheduled for next nine days.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s national swimming team will camp on September 18 ahead of African Swimming Confederation (Cana) zone, three swimming championships scheduled for October 19-21 at Heaven of Peace Academy (Hopac).
Earlier, the team was scheduled to start preparations from today, but due to unavoidable reasons, the camp has been rescheduled for next nine days.
Already team coaches, Alex Mwaipasi from Taliss Swimming Club, and Michael Livingstone of Dar Swim Club, have announced the names of national swimming team members. Speaking with The Citizen, Livingstone said the team would be training at the International School of Tanganyika (IST) in Upanga and Masaki and will have two training session daily. He said they wanted to defend the the team’s title for the second time and continue dominating the game for the three Cana Zone countries.
“We have selected swimmers, who can make the country proud. We won in Kigali, Rwanda and we know many countries will fight hard to win the title. But we have to work harder to retain the title,” said Livingstone.
So far, six countries have confirmed their participation in the championships. The countries as South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti and hosts Tanzania. Countries that have shown interest in taking part in the championship but have yet to confirm are Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Rwanda and South Sudan.
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. 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.
TSA needs at least Sh100 million to successfully host the championship. Over 200 swimmers from various countries across the continent are expected to battle it out for top honours during the championship.
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).
