HAS ready for Jnr National Champs

Ellina Mhlanga-Zimpapers Sports Hub

The Junior National Swimming Championships return to Harare at the end of this month with the hosts confident of a successful event.

The meet runs from January 31 to February 2 at Les Brown Pool, and Harare Amateur Swimming have indicated all is in place to welcome swimmers from the different provinces.

The championships are held on a rotational basis, and Harare hosts this year’s Junior Nationals while the Senior Nationals will be staged in Bulawayo from February 20 to 24.

Last year the juniors’ event was held in Bulawayo while Harare received the seniors.

HAS board marketing convenor Tendai Mazike said they are ready for the competition, and they are looking at fielding more than 60 swimmers.

“In terms of our readiness, we are quite ready because the same facility that we used for our Harare Championships is the same facility that we are using for the Junior Nationals.

“We have got a team in place, but we are hosting our seeded gala this Friday; there may be additions.

“We are quite excited because this is an opportunity for our junior swimmers to compete at their own level,” said Mazike.

The swimmers are training under different coaches at their respective clubs.

HAS held their provincial Senior Championships last month, with some of the juniors competing, and will be out to build on some of the performances as they meet other provinces at the national event.

However, it will be interesting to see how it goes with Bulawayo also proving to be a force to reckon with.

The two provinces always have a close contest because of the numbers they have.

“The swimmers are doing quite well.

“And we just had our fourth junior league, and the times are showing that the swimmers are really prepared to go into the nationals.”

Apart from chasing the title, some of the swimmers are looking at attaining the times for the South Africa Level Two event in March.

“They are actually preparing or looking forward to achieving times so that they can also compete at the South Africa Level Two in March. “They are training with their respective clubs, with different coaches.

“We are also working hard to prepare our swimmers for the upcoming Senior Nationals as well as the South Africa Tours, all at the three levels,” said Mazike.

Apart from the Level Two gala, there is the Level Three gala, South Africa Junior and Senior Nationals.

Local swimmers have over the years attended the events in the neighbouring country as they seek more competition and exposure.