Namutebi lifts Uganda in CANA Zone IV Swimming Championships

SWIMMING   CANA ZONE IV CHAMPIONSHIP

Kirabo Namutebi collected five of Uganda's nine medals as the CANA Zone IV Championships ended in Botswana on Sunday.

The 15-year old British School of Uganda student and Uganda Sports Press Association Swimmer of the Year 2019 won 2 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze to inspire the Uganda girls team to an 8^th place finish out of 13 and a 10^th place overall at the University of Botswana Long Course Swimming pool.

She kicked off her medal with a  when she clocked 34.40 to pick silver in the 50m breaststroke race won by Mauritius' Alicia Kok Shun who posted 34.22.

She then followed it with a bronze in the 50m backstroke (32.27) behind Zambia's Phiri Mia and Madagascar's Idealy Tendrinavalona who won gold and silver in 31.15 and 32.17 respectively.

Avice Meya picked bronze in the 200m butterfly race.

Her medal pursuit continued in the 50m butterfly where she made 29.27 to bag another bronze behind the Zambian and South Africa's Alexia Young who clocked 29.61 and 29.86 seconds respectively.

Namutebi then engaged top gear in the breaststroke races picking gold in the 50m and 100m races, where she beat Zimbabwe's Van der Westhuizen (27.74) and Zambia's Phiri Mia (27.78) to the gold by 0.67 and 0.71 microseconds.

She wasn't about to relent in her specialty stroke and again beat Westhuizen (1:00.82), and Botswana's Egner Maxine (1:00.98), in 1:00.45 over the 100m distance to claim another gold.

Team captain Avice Meya also dug dip to post 3:27.75 to claim bronze in the 200m butterfly race won by Namibia's Heleni Stergiadis (2:28.48), with Botswana's Leone Van Rooyen (2:57,23) picking silver.

Ssebanakitta picked his first silver for Uganda in the masters class.

Meya was unlucky in the 100m backstroke and the 100m freestyle races and could only manage fourth place in both races, posting 1:16.23 and 1:04.15 respectively.

Swimming in the masters' class (45+ years category) outgoing Uganda Swimming Federation president and National Council of Sports Chairman Donald Rukare was also good for bronze on the first day of the championship clocking 46.83 in the 50m breast race.

Peter Ssebanakitta (2:03.77) and Joseph Kabogoza (30.74) also picked silver medals from the 100m breast and butterfly races.

It was a tough outing for the rest of the 14-man team Uganda members who settled for the experience of swimming with more developed swimmers from the Africa Zone IV.