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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE were over the weekend crowned the CANA Zone IV championships champions after dominating most of the events at the swimming event held in Lusaka, Zambia.
The Zimbabwean swimmers amassed a combined team score of 2 735 points.
The regional competition featured Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, Angola, Tanzania, Uganda, Seychelles, Eswatini, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe dominated the competition from day one as they took the lead with some outstanding performances from their swimmers.
They won more than 70 medals, including 20 gold. Some of the gold medals were from the relays.
They got gold in the Under-14 Girls Medley, 15-and-Over Medley, Girls 14-and-Under 400m Freestyle relay, Girls 15-and-Over 400m Freestyle relay, 14-and-Under Mixed 400m Medley relay, 15-and-Over Mixed 400m Medley relay, 14-and-Under Girls 200m Freestyle relay, and 15-and-Over Girls 200m Freestyle.
Several swimmers, including Donata Katai, Cory Werrett, Ryan Franceys, Khaya Vimba, Olivia Accorsi, Matida Musere and Tori Dawe, also picked gold medals in their individual events, apart from contributing in the relays.
Werrett, who was one of the Team Zimbabwe captains, picked gold in 100m and 200m freestyle. He also claimed silver in the 50m, 200m and 100m breaststroke events.
Katai won gold medals in 100m backstroke, 50m backstroke and 200m backstroke, and silver in 50m butterfly and 100m butterfly races.
Zimbabwe swimming chairperson, Tracey Doorman, commended the swimmers for their team effort.
“We are obviously very proud and pleased with the whole team’s performance. Medals, notwithstanding most of the team swam personal bests, which is great and added to the points total.
“We are very happy that we led from start to finish and it takes a team to perform consistently to do that on this competition,” said Doorman.
Most of the swimmers that made the Zimbabwe team have been to other international and regional events.
Katai represented the country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games last year and the African Union Sports Council Region Five Youth Games held last December in Maseru, Lesotho.
Chinyere Mgbemena, Riana Rollo, Tanatsirwa Chitsurura, Timea Schultz, Ryan Franceys and Benjamin Rorke also attended the Region Five Youth Games and they were all in Zambia for the CANA Zone IV Championships.
With the CANA Senior Championships expected to take place later in year, as well as the Region Five Youth Games in Malawi, the regional competition was a good platform for some of the swimmers to start preparing for the upcoming events.
“For our 16-and-Over swimmers this is an excellent platform for Region Five at the end of the year as well as the CANA Senior Championships later in the year.
“With regards to Africa Games, as with any competition, it’s all a building platform and gaining experience for younger swimmers no matter what their next competition may be,” said Doorman.
Mozambique were placed second with a combined team score of 1 987.50 and hosts Zambia came third with 1 928 points.
Online Reporter