Swimming championships on

Ellina Mhlanga, Harare Bureau
MUTARE will host the Manicaland championships starting this Friday as the swimming season continues with most of the provinces staging their provincial competitions.

The first part of the Manicaland championships will be held on Friday and will conclude on November 28 at Hillcrest School.
Matabeleland will hold their event from November 25 to 28 in Bulawayo while for Masvingo their provincial event is scheduled for November 28 and 29.

Mashonaland, who have more swimmers compared to the other provinces, will have their senior championships from November 27 to 29 and will take a break before they resume on December 4 to 6 at Les Brown Pool in Harare.

For now local swimmers will focus on provincial competitions in preparation of the national championships set for February 18 to 22 in Bulawayo.

The national championships in Bulawayo will be followed by the Junior National Championships to be staged in Harare on March 5 and 6 before the Level One and Level Two gala in South Africa between March and April.

Zimbabwe Aquatic Union president, Mary Kloppers, said the provinces will be taking advantage of their provincial events to select teams for next year’s national championships.

“All our provinces are having their championships and from there they will be selecting teams for the national championships starting in February. We will also be sending teams to South Africa in March,” said Kloppers.

Kloppers said they are contend with the progress the swimmers are making but noted that there has been a decline in terms of the numbers of participants since the season took off in September because of financial constraints as parents have to meet all the expenses for their children to compete in these meets.

However, the ZAU president said they are hopeful of sending a big team to the CANA Zone IV Championships to be held in Mauritius next year in April.

“Our swimmers are on track. But already parents are feeling the (effects of) the economy. Already we have a decline in our numbers and I will put that down to finances.

“There is a regional gala in Mauritius in April and we expect to send a big team there,” said Kloppers.

She also said they have two swimmers – James Lawson and Sean Gunn – who are close to qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Swimming sensation Kirsty Coventry has already booked her place at next year’s Rio Games after she qualified for the 100m backstroke in August during the FINA World Swimming championships in Kazan, Russia.