Swimmers off to Doha

Caroline Magenga Sports Reporter
THE president of the Zimbabwe Aquatic Union, Mary Kloppers, says the country’s four representatives at the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) to be held in Doha, Qatar, are geared up for the high-profile event. Four swimmers — Chad Idensohn, James Lawson, Peter Wetzlar and Robyn Lee — left Harare at the weekend to compete in the event that has been pencilled in for December 3-7.

Two more upcoming non-competing swimmers, Liam Davis and Ratidzo Mutangadura, will also be joining them to attend a youth development programme that will be held there.

The swimming competition is part of the team’s preparations for the December 4-14 Region V Games that will be staged in Bulawayo.

Speaking shortly before her departure to Doha ahead of the team, Kloppers said preparations have been progressing well and the swimmers are more than looking forward to the event.

“This is a high-profile event but they (the competing swimmers) are not at all nervous, in fact they are very excited and pepped up for the trip.

“Preparations have been going well and they have been very thorough because we were not just preparing for this event only but also for the Region V Games so there was a lot of hard work and pressure but they have been handling it very well.

“Our wish is that this world event will provide the swimmers with proper exposure because they are young and so attending such an event will help them gain confidence and learn a couple of things from their counterparts from other countries.

“And it’s really like I have said before, that our worry is not on whether they win medals or not, we are more concerned with them getting experience and exposure as we prepare for the regional games because for our country in the swimming code they are our medal hopefuls,” said Kloppers.