Rova: Swimmers Clock Good Times
The Fiji Swimming Short Course Age Group Nationals Championship has become a good training ground to prepare our national swimmers for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, says Fiji Swimming president Ben Rova. Twelve clubs with over 300 swimmers were at the Damodar Aquatic Centre, Suva yesterday competing and trying to win a spot in the national team.
“We’ve completed the second day of the Short Course Age Group Nationals and this is the last major swimming event of the year,” he said.
“The significance of this particular Short Course nationals is for Fiji Swimming to select their final squad for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
“We’ve a qualifying time for the swimmers to achieve in order to make it to the final squad to compete in the Commonwealth Games.
“This is a great opportunity for our elite swimmers to get some exposure and better their personal times.
“But for this competition we’ve around 300 swimmers that are between the ages of 10 to 19-years-old. “Also, we are pleased to have two teams one from Tonga and the other from New Zealand competing against the 10 local based-clubs.”
Rova said after the first day of competition Barracuda had been leading with 42 gold medals followed by Titans and Dolphins with 19.
He praised the performance of a few national reps as well as Tonga and New Zealand swimmers. “Looking at their time we could tell that they have been impressive. One of them is Temafa Yalimaiwai who had participated at the Commonwealth Youth Games and the Junior World Championship. “Another is Taichi Vakasama who set an open record in the 1500m. Taichi won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games as well.”
Rova said there had been a few delays in the running of the competition because of the heavy rain.
“We’re still continuing and I think the various age group swimmers had a great opportunity to showcase their swimming skills and talents.
“We’re looking forward to the finals tomorrow and hopefully get to see more record-breaking performance.”