Talis club win national swimming tourney

Speaking at the two days event Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) secretary general Ramadhan Namkomveka and technical director of the association Amina Mfaume described the championships as very successful.

The two TSA officials said they are impressed with the level of competition shown by the swimmers and also the big number of clubs which competed at the event.

“Nine clubs competed at this championships, I am delighted because most of the swimmers managed to break time records which were set some years ago , I think I can say we are in the right track”, she said.

Namkomveka said Dar Swim Club which collected 3,123 points were runners-up as Morogoro International School was third-placed with 1,648 points.

Blue Fins Swimming Club finished fourth with 615 points ahead of fifth-placed KMKM that collected 145 points.

Wahoo Swim Club with 113 points trailed KMKM and edged hosts Hopac that collected 106 points while Champion rise and JKT Club were eighth and ninth placed with 90 and 57 points, respectively.

Meanwhile, TSA said it will penalise all clubs who gave false information on their swimmers who were lined up to compete at the championships.

Mfaume said TSA has software which found the system of taking time for swimmers at the event.
The TSA official could not disclose names the clubs which were involved in the malpractice but said the punishment is 20,000/- in each category.

“Using the software which we have discovered that some unscrupulous coaches give fake time of their swimmers so that they could compete at the national championships, I think this has been a practice for a long time.

The objective behind this malpractice is to see that there clubs field many swimmers at the championships.

“We are not against clubs sending many swimmers to the national championships but as the association we are against the system of time cheating, it’s better to have only few swimmers at the event who are qualified, I appreciate Taliss that they always try to be honest with time”, she said.

Mfaume also said TSA will in the near future stop clubs from having their swimmers featuring in more than five categories at the national championships.

“I think we must act now and stop this, it’s not good to have one swimmer competing in more than five categories, you saw what had happened to that young swimmer (name withheld) whose shoulder was dislocated we don’t want that to happen”, she said.

She also said TSA removed the category of eight & under as children of that age are not supposed to compete instead they must be tough techniques of the sport.

“According to swimming rules children below the age of 8 should not compete at any event, you know competition brought a lot of pressure, can a young child of that age withstand pressure coming from parents, coaches and spectators who cheer them so that they can perform well? Young swimmers of that age must swim at ease”, she said.