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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE Swimming has said they are set to host the African Swimming Confederation (CANA) Zone IV championships in Harare starting on April 26. 

The championship was initially meant to be hosted by Malawi however, due to that country not being able to be the host nation, they ended up giving their hosting rights to Zimbabwe with just over a month to go to the prestigious games.

Swimming Zimbabwe board chairperson Zanele Nkomazana confirmed that the country has been awarded the hosting rights by Malawi during the recently ended Zimbabwe Senior Swimming Championships which were held in Bulawayo and ended on Monday.

Nkomazana said, despite the short notice, they are looking forward to hosting the annual regional swimming competition once again. Zimbabwe had put in the bid to host and unfortunately lost it to Malawi.

They are also appealing to the corporate world and individuals to assist them as they try to pull off and prepare for the competition in the short space of time that is left before athletes take to the pool in the capital.

“We are happy to be hosting the championships, we wanted to host the games but lost the bid to Malawi but due to their inability, they have awarded us the hosting rights. We are dedicated and we will work hard.

“We are appealing to companies to help us with sponsorship and to help team Zimbabwe to camp and prepare for the competition but above all, we are really excited,” said Nkomazana.

Zimbabwe will have the privilege of fielding more swimmers at the championship which will be an advantage to them. A team is allowed 40 athletes and Nkomazana said they will field two teams due to home advantage which will also be a good thing for them.

“We will have two teams, 80 swimmers and they will get the exposure and its good for them to continue swimming for the betterment of their times and overall it will also help develop our swimming,” she said.

When travelling to competitions outside the country, parents usually fund their own children, and having the event on home soil will help cut down finances and costs.

The event is for countries in Southern Africa and some from Zone three are sometimes invited to grace the regional tournament. Zone three countries include Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania among others.

The championships will come at a time when Zimbabwean swimmers are in high spirits having competed in Bulawayo last week where all provinces, except Masvingo, were represented. Harare and Bulawayo, who produced the most athletes, saw their swimmers dominate throughout the entire duration of the event.

J Wes Jared and Mbalenhle Jared

For Bulawayo, who were on home soil, some of the standout swimmers include Mbalenhle Jared, her twin brother J Wes, Siqokoqela Mphoko II, Jayden de Swart, Onesimus Ngwenya, Olivia Accorsi and Nathan Chibva. – @brandon_malvin