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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
HARARE Amateur Swimming resumed competition over the weekend with some of their swimmers to take part in the South African National Junior Championships in Durban utilising the opportunity to assess their readiness after almost three months of inactivity.
The province staged their sixth-seeded gala at Les Brown Swimming Pool over two days as they returned to the competition.
HAS public relations officer Shingirai Mtetwa said the idea was to get swimmers back to the pool after a long break and for those going to South Africa, it was an opportunity to have a feel of competition before they leave.
“The gala went well but was certainly different due to the tighter Covid regulations whereby we had to have only 50 swimmers in the swimming pool area at any one time.
“However our objectives of getting swimmers to swim their races was achieved. We were not expecting new records or anything like that as we were coming from a two-month lockdown where swimmers were not training.
“The level of competition was good but the swimmers’ times were not the best because of the break we had in training.
“Our swimmers had already qualified for this tour (South African National Junior Championships) prior to the lockdown. They are seriously training for the tour, however, everyone was affected by the Covid pandemic including the South Africans but we wish our swimmers the best.
“That exposure is very important for the development of the sport in the country. They did participate in the gala at the weekend and it was important for them to have a feel of competing again before they go on tour,” said Mtetwa.
The swimmers going to South Africa are Tanatsirwa Chitsurura, Kalipengule Limbikani, Mkhuseli Mahobele, Jayden Malandu, S’busiso Msimanga, Matida Musere, Saira Ramajan, Ben Rorke, Wisdom Shumba, and Anje Van As.
They will be led by coach Michael Ranken and team manager Zanele Nkomazana.
They are expected to leave on April 5 for the competition to run from April 6 to 11.
Mtetwa said despite the break, they are hoping to fulfill their remaining events on the calendar.
“It was very important for HAS to return back to swimming and also to run the gala under new rules as it were. We had to follow the regulations and to see how feasible the regulations were and to see if there are areas we need to improve on.
“We are hoping to complete our galas as per calendar except for the Nationals and the level tours that were missed.
“We are hoping to hold our HAS Junior Championships in April and the Short Course gala in early May, in a heated pool. It is a pity that we are not able to hold the Junior and Senior Nationals because that is where swimmers usually get very good times because the level of competition will be very high,” Mtetwa said.
The national junior and senior championships were affected by the lockdown and indications are that the national association is working on an end-of-season competition to be held in April.
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