Over 500 for Primary Schools Swimming Championships

Mar 06, 2020

This year's edition was launched mid-this week at Rainbow International School.

SWIMMING

Over 500 swimmers are set to compete in this year's Midland Group National Primary Schools Swimming Championships at Greenhill Academy on Saturday.

The hosts won last year's edition and are expected to continue their dominance on home ground.

This year's edition was launched mid-this week at Rainbow International School.

Uganda Swimming Federation competitions secretary Max Kanyerezi said the event has continued to produce national swimmers that have gone to represent the country in international events.

He said up to 40 schools are now subscribed to the event.

Director of Rainbow International School Drashna Kotecha, accompanied by the Principal of the School Jason Lewis and headteacher Elizabeth Bisaso as well as Greenhill headteacher Moses Kirinya, announced a sh15m sponsorship towards the event.

Kotecha said the gala was started with the sole aim of promoting swimming in national schools.

"In the past, the available swimming competitions were mainly dominated by international schools, so we started this [event] to encourage swimmers in local schools and to enable them to start swimming at an early age," he said.

"There is no entrance fee for the participating schools and all costs related to the gala are covered by the Midland Group. We believe that through supporting this event, Uganda will have a wide base of national swimmers in the future."

Lewis said the gala is an avenue for the children to launch their swimming careers on top of encouraging competition, as well as the health and educational benefits involved with the sport.

"We are proud to be giving these children an avenue that could lead them to compete at maybe the Olympics," he says.

On his part, Kirinya hailed Greenhill for the vision and said the tournament helps swimmers get national rankings with the national federation.

The Katatumba Academy from Mbarara, Twinbrook Junior School and St. Catherine Junior School are some of the new schools that will join Kampala Junior Academy, Seeta Junior School, Kampala Parents School, Mother Care, King Fahad, Sir Apollo Kaggwa and Seeta Junior schools for the one-day gala.


(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});