Local swimmers prep for Mat’land senior Champions
LOCAL swimmers will use today’s gala at the Bulawayo City Pool to prepare for the Matabeleland Senior Swimming Championships in two weeks’ time.
The gala organised by the Matabeleland Amateur Swimming Board (MASB) is also used for ranking purposes, with swimmers that post best times enhancing their chances of making it into the Matabeleland team.
Today’s event comes two weeks after MASB held a short course gala where juniors Liam O’Hara and Deilson Cyprianos broke five national records.
Nokuthula Cyprianos, chairperson of the MASB, said they were expecting a competitive pool.
“Competition has been tight and young swimmers have been posting impressive times. Tomorrow’s gala is a seniors’ event, which is also open to juniors. We’ve got the Matabeleland Championships from December 1-4, meaning that those that will compete tomorrow will use the race as part of their preparations for the December meet,” said Cyprianos.
She said the quest to break records is likely to motivate swimmers.
“The trainers have been doing a good job and their swimmers are always racing to post better times. That desire to break local and national records can motivate swimmers,” she said.
Swimmers will compete in five events, the 50m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 50m breaststroke and 800m freestyle.
Cyprianos said outstanding swimmers will be considered for the Matabeleland team, which will compete at the National Championships to be held early next year in Harare.
Swimmers likely to shatter records at today’s event include O’Hara, Dale Bruce and Brendan Cyprianos — @ZililoR. FOUR coaches from the Czech Republic will be in Bulawayo to scout for players during the inaugural Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Trukumb Mining Enterprises Top Eight tournament featuring Zifa Southern Region Division One League teams.
The tournament is being sponsored to the tune of $10 000 and will be played at White City and Luveve stadiums from December 3-10.
Austria-based football agent and a partner in Southern Region Division One League outfit Talen Vision, Didier Kanku, said coaches from the Czech Republic’s topflight teams had accepted his invitation.
“The president of Talen Vision (Khumbulani Nkomo) has done a good job to sponsor this competition. The clubs which will participate stand to benefit a lot as this tournament will showcase local talent to the outside world since we’re bringing four coaches from the Czech Republic to scout for talent.
“I invited them after my first visit to Zimbabwe and told them there is abundant talent in the country,” said Kanku.
Log leaders Bulawayo Chiefs, Bantu Rovers, Amagagasi, ZPC Hwange, ZRP Bulawayo and Talen Vision are guaranteed of participating in the end of season tournament.
The four mid-table teams still hoping to win their respective matches on the last day of the season to cement slots in the tournament are seventh-placed Black Boots and Indlovu Iyanyathela, who are both tied on 37 points, Technosphere on 36 points and Victoria Falls Tigers (35).
Bosso 90 stand in the way of Indlovu Iyanyathela, who they play host to at Luveve Stadium tomorrow, with Black Boots on the road to Turk Mine where they will face Casmyn, while Technosphere are home to Talen Vision in Hwange.
Tigers take on Hwange Juniors in Victoria Falls on Sunday in a match that could be a dead rubber for Tigers should any of the three teams vying for the two slots win tomorrow.
Kanku, who organised trial stints for the Talen Vision trio of Mbekezeli Sibanda, Njabulo Mpofu and Tawanda Muchaya at Slovakian topflight side FC Vion, will tomorrow watch Talen Vision’s final league match of the season against Technosphere in Hwange — @ZililoR.