Tanzania swimmers to benefit from FINA President’s visit

Dar es Salaam. The International Swimming Federation (FINA) has been impressed with an excellent swimming foundation and strategic plans set by the Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA), despite various challenges facing the game.

FINA president Husain Al Musallam, who visited the country recently, said despite Tanzania lacking state-of-the-art swimming pools, TSA brushed aside various challenges and managed to develop the sport.

According to Al Musallam, one of the things that made him come to the country was after having seen TSA’s development plans and impressed with the performance of one swimmer, Collins Saliboko, who is now under FINA’s scholarship program.

However, Collins, who was scheduled to go to Kazan, Russia, under FINA’s scholarship, has failed to make it due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“I have seen the development plan of the sport and how TSA leaders are fighting for its progress. So far, I have been impressed with the talents and this is what made me choose Tanzania to be the first country to visit in Africa since I was elected to lead the body. I’m really excited with my visit,” said Al Musallam.

Construction of a modern swimming pool

Al Musallam explained that he had already met the officials of TSA and the government as well and discussed the project.

He said FINA is ready to support Tanzania for the construction of a modern swimming pool with all necessary facilities including diving blocks, touchpads and others.

Al Musallam expressed that FINA always supports the development of the game, but the task should be done first by a particular association as well as the government.

“Let me put it clear. The task of developing the game 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 achieve the goal,” said Al Musallam.

He explained that always FINA wants to see the country is active in the game and swimmers participate in the sport without facing challenges and that’s why they have been providing support for its development.

“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 to inspire others. Tanzania is one of the countries that have made progress in the game, despite various challenges. We are very much impressed with this,” he said.

Training and scholarships

The president said that without modern training for swimmers, they will not be able to make progress and not only in the sport of swimming, but also in other sports. He said the only way of achieving development is to have a good leadership. Al Musallam explained that FINA expects to provide leadership training for leaders as well as modern training for coaches.

“You can’t be a good swimmer without a good coach and you can’t have a good coach without a good leadership.

“So, you have to know that the first foundation is a good leadership. We have seen how the TSA leadership does its job, they deserve a pat on the back,” he said. He also noted that the issue of giving scholarships to young swimmers was not only for developing the game, but also for inspiring others to join the sport.

Statement by Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi

The FINA’s officials also visited Zanzibar and met President Hussein Ali Mwinyi to discuss various aspects of Zanzibar’s swimming and tourism development.

At their meeting, President Mwinyi said the visit by the FINA leaders to Zanzibar will go a long way towards promoting Zanzibar as a tourist destination, especially in sports tourism.

President Mwinyi said swimming is among the famous sports in the world and the visit by the leaders will help strengthen the relationship and cooperation between Zanzibar and FINA.

He added that the move will greatly benefit Zanzibar which is surrounded by the sea as it is in the process of improving the Blue Economy Policy where among the goals set is to strengthen the tourism industry through sports tourism.

Statement by Director of Sports Development

The country’s director of sports development, Yusuph Singo, said the government was relieved by the FINA’s visit and had already shown its artwork and the area set aside for the construction of a modern 50-meter swimming pool.

“First of all, the visit by 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 visit in history, but Tanzania has. As a government, we are very relieved and congratulate TSA for the great job they have done,” said Singo. Singo commended TSA’s move of sustaining the Union by enabling the FINA leaders to visit Zanzibar and meet stakeholders and government officials.

TSA statement

TSA Chairman Imani Alimanya said they have submitted their development plans to FINA and believe they will succeed.

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

African swimming governing body (CANA Zone 3) president Donald Rukare commended FINA for selecting Tanzania to be the first country in its region to visit and promote the game.

Apart from Al Musallam, other high-ranking officials, who visited the country include the African president of the game, Sam Ramasamy. Ramasamy is also the vice president of FINA apart from being the African president of the African Swimming Confederation (CANA) along with Brent John Nowicki, who is the executive director of FINA.

Others in the delegation were Chaykh Ahmad Al Saab who is the assistant to the president of FINA, Alex Szanto (FINA envoy), Mikolaus Schonfeldt (assistant to the CEO of FINA) and former Olympic champion Ferry Weertam and Ranom Kromowidjojo, a former champion of the world and the Olympics.