Mayanja, Nabil, Kirabo save face at Cana Zone IV championship

Uganda swimmers must work extra hard to match the rest of the competition on the continent, going by the performance of the eleven-man team that represented Uganda at the CANA Zone IV Championship that ended in Malawi over the weekend.

Despite three of the swimmers picking 8 medals between them, the other team members' performance showed there is still more work required to bridge the gap as the youngsters continue to grow.

But some can be excused as they were not the best from their respective categories as they left last week, to test themselves against some of Africa's best swimmers from other countries.

Abba Mayanja, 12, had showed the way for the Ugandans when he clocked 37.11; a personal best, to grab bronze in the 50m breast stroke before Nabil Saleh also picked bronze in the 50m butterfly race in a time of 27.28 behind South Africa JP Seyfert (27.05) and Namibia's Le Roux, Corné (27.14).

Mayanja was also good for silver in the 50m breast (37.11) and won more bronze in the 100m breast, 200m IM, and 200m breast stroke races where he clocked; 1:24.35, 2:43.99 and 3:02.83 respectively, behind Angola's Freitas Filipe and Seychelles' Nathan Nagapin who dominated in the 12 & Under category.

Nabil Saleh's gold in the 50m freestyle (27.28) and two bronze in the 50m butterfly and in the 100m freestlye (54.58) ensured Uganda finish in tenth position out of 14 participating countries.

Kirabo Namutebi's energetic displays could only yield one-silver in the 200m breast stroke race (2:55.83) where Alicia Kok Shun of Mauritius was the victor in 2:46.69.

Despite registering some personal bests in some races, the going was tough for Shelby Rose Clow, Fadhil Saleh, Tendo Mukalazi, Raphael Sine, Mercedes Mwebeiha, Kevin Rugaaju and Paulsen Ssetumba some of whom were making their debuts at this level.

CANA Zone IV Medal Count-Uganda

                               Gold    Silver    Bronze

Nabil Saleh                1          0          2

Abba Mayanja            0          2          2

Kirabo Namutebi         0         1           0