12 teams confirm CANA participation

By Michael Nsubuga

TWELVE teams have so far confirmed their participation in the CANA Zone 3 and 4 championships due at the Kampala Parents School pool, April 24-27.

The CANA Zone 3 and 4 comprises of 24 countries, twelve of which had confirmed taking part in the annual championship by Saturday.

Uganda Swimming Federation president Don Rukare said they were still expecting more countries to confirm their participation in the three-day event.

Uganda’s team to the championship trained together on Saturday with over forty swimmers converging for the morning session training.

According to Coach Muzafar Muwanguzi the swimmers will continue to train with their clubs but work out together on the weekend until the championship.

Being hosts Uganda could field two teams because of the number of swimmers that have shown interest in representing the country.

“We are trying to find slots for all the good swimmers; most of our good swimmers are around and we shall bank on the home support to win,” Muwanguzi said.

But he knows that each passing year the competition grows and is still wary of the challenge the likes of swimmers from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mauritius pose.

“The stakes go high and higher each year so we expect tough competition but the good thing the cohesion of our team is excellent and we hope to do well,” Muwanguzi stated.

Last year in Zambia Uganda led by Olympian Jamila Lunkuse collected a total of 16 medals with Lunkuse (7 gold) and Rebecca Ssengozi (4 gold) as the best swimmers for Uganda.

Lunkuse will though miss this year’s event because of studies.