Swimming Parent Hadija Namanda has protested Uganda Swimming Federation’s decision to drop swimmer Kirabo Namutebi from the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships scheduled for August 30-September 4 in Lima, Peru.

Olympian Namutebi, 17, currently the best Ugandan swimmer in her category, who was also part of the Commonwealth Games swimming team, and is currently competing at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Turkey, was dropped for Swagia Mubiru and Tara Kisawuzi who are the two girls of a four-man team including two boys; Joshua Lumonya and Steve Magera, that will represent the country.

The championship would be Namutebi’s last as a junior swimmer as she currently also doubles as a ‘senior’ swimmer for the country.

“It is absurd that she is being denied an opportunity to represent her country at the last Junior swimming championship that she has tirelessly worked for over the years,” Namanda, the mother and manager of Namutebi stated.

Namanda contends that Namutebi is far better than the crop of swimmers selected for the world event having beaten them in the selection event a fortnight ago at Greenhill Academy pool in all races where she bagged 15 gold medals.

Namutebis mum Hadija Namanda. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

“She is the only swimmer with times a few microseconds to qualification using FINA B times amongst the junior and senior lot in this country. Kirabo is a multi-National record holder in Uganda,” Namanda noted.

“If USF technical committee and selections committee cared about the psychological impact of the athlete albeit the decisions made, the mental aspect of the athlete would be at the forefront,” she argued.

She said the swimmer and her coach had set targets and that at her peak she should have been given chance though she wasn’t against those chosen, but the criteria used.

But Uganda Swimming Federation vice-president technical Tonny Kasujja said the decision to drop her for the event wasn’t out of malice but to ensure continuity, by also giving other swimmers a chance to taste and develop their craft at the world event, and also earn FINA points.

“It is also to her benefit as a swimmer because it would give her time to recover and train and focus on the short-course event in Australia and the Africa Seniors in Tunisia as she also improves her time,” Kasujja said.

“She has already had many events (7) over a short time even outside the recommended ‘long-term athletic development program’ yet it is what the federation is following. So, this has been to create an environment for her to recover and improve.

“This is our only senior swimmer so we have to protect her and so she should not lose hope. Whereas we need her performance we can’t underlook the element of continuity. But her manager can also write to the federation because it has the final say on who can represent, ours was technical advice and guidance,” Kasujja stated.