DAR ES SALAAM: ALL is set for the Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) as it prepares to deploy 30 swimmers for the Aquatics Zone III Championships in Rwanda early next week.
The competition will be staged at Gahanga Swimming Pool from November 23rd to 26th this year, with the country’s envoys eager to stamp success and bring home top prizes.
Speaking with the ‘Sunday News’ in Dar es Salaam yesterday, TSA Chairman, David Mwasyoge confirmed the swimmers are on drill and soon they will issue the list of swimmers who will take part in the competition.
To ensure the swimmers proudly wave the national flag, he called on sports stakeholders to support the teams’ preparations and their stay in Rwanda.
“Our budget for the competition has not fully been covered. We have a deficit of about 7m/- of which we request stakeholders to come forward and render a helping hand.
“We thank the parents and guardians of the swimmers for the contributions they have made so far to cover the costs of various expenses in facilitating the trip,” he said.
Furthermore, he pointed out that the Tanzania team is heading for the championship as holders and that they are aiming to continue their dominance of the Aquatics Zone III showdown.
“Our objectives in the competition are to promote sports excellence, international exposure, national pride, talent development plus networking and collaboration,” he said.
Again, the TSA boss revealed that in December they would send a team of four swimmers to compete at the Africa Junior Championship to be staged in Mauritius.
“This contest will be for the whole of Africa and we will also need full support from stakeholders because the association on its own cannot manage to do everything bearing in mind that competing in such big events is costly,” he said.
He added that sometimes they fail to send more swimmers to international events due to their expensive nature, hence depriving the opportunity for talented swimmers to showcase their potential.
“The current government under the presidency of Samia Suluhu Hassan is doing a commendable job to support the growth of different sporting disciplines and this to a great extent is fuelling tangible results for the concerned teams,” he said.
