Zim clinches CANA Zone IV champs

Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent

ZIMBABWEAN swimmers put up topnotch performances to top the medals’ table at the CANA Zone IV Swimming Championships that ended in Botswana on Sunday.

Zimbabwe amassed a total of 85 medals consisting of 34 gold, 31 silver and 20 bronze.

Their four relay teams in the 4X50m freestyle made a clean sweep of the gold medals, with the boys’ over-15 age group touching the pad in 1 minute 38.62 seconds, while the Under-14 nicked it in 1 minute 49.12 seconds. In the girls’ section, the Under-14 won in 1 minute 59.73 seconds and the over-15 girls secured the gold in 1 minute 52.87 seconds.

Boys captain Denilson Cyprianos (17) secured silver in his three backstroke races. He clocked 27.59 seconds in the 50m, 1 minute 00:30 seconds in the 100m and 2 minutes 09.41 seconds in the 200m.

Tichatonga Makaya (13) and Bjorn Mhlanga (13) made a top two finish in the 100m freestyle in the 13-14 years age group, touching the pad in 59.33 seconds and 59.38 seconds respectively.

Timea Schultz (14) won gold medal in the 13-14 years girls’ 200m individual medley in 2 minutes 38.22 seconds and grabbed silver in the 100m freestyle in 1 minute 03.88 seconds.

Paige van der Westhuizen (16) clinched gold in the 200m freestyle 2 minutes 10:53 seconds) and two silver medals in the 200m individual medley (2 minutes 30.48 seconds) and 100m freestyle (1 minute 00.82 seconds).

Courtney Brown (17) and Nomvula Mjimba (17) also made a top two finish in the 17 and over age group 100m freestyle in 1 minute 02.50 seconds and 1 minute 02.74 seconds to claim gold and silver.

Zimbabwe were followed by Namibia with 63 medals, with Botswana coming third after accumulating 42 medals and Mozambique finishing fourth with 23 medals.

The regional gala attracted over 300 swimmers from 14 Southern African countries at the University of Botswana Swimming Pool from February 20-23.

Angola, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana were the countries represented.

Final
medal
rankings

GoldSilverBronzeTotal

Zimbabwe 34 31 20 85

Namibia 28 15 20 63

Botswana 11 19 12 42

Mozambique 12 5 6 23

Mauritius 11 6 9 26

Seychelles 9 9 11 29

South Africa 7 18 24 49

Zambia 4 6 8 18

Malawi 3 2 2 7

Angola 2 3 2 7