More records tumble at the CANA Zone IV Swimming and Water Polo Championships 2017

In the 400m freestyle, Zimbabwean Paige van der Westhuizen came second in 4:53.68 while Therese Soukup of Seychelles coming third in a time of 4:55.00. Tailyn Seyfret of South Africa was second in the 100m butterfly and van der Westhuizen came in third.

Ethan Spieker of South Africa also made a new championship time in the men’s 14 and under 400m freestyle after notching a time of 4:27.15, he was followed by compatriot, Felix Maseko (4:31.85 and Seychelles Hayden Ahwan was third in 4:32.03.

Zimbabwe’s Robyn Lee claimed two gold medals in the morning session clinching the women’s 17 and over 100m butterfly in a record time of 1:04.43 and also won the 15 and over 400m freestyle. Zimbabwe also managed a one-two finish in the 12 and under 100m butterfly event with Donata Katai (1:14.38) and Kunda Nyambawaro (1:15.60) finish first and second respectively while Mauritius’ Alicia Kok Shun was third in 1:18.36.

Angola’s Gordo Slavador made a new time in the men’s 13 and 14 100m butterfly when he clocked 1:01.06 and South Africa’s Jandre Mollo’s 59.00 seconds becomes the new championship time in the men’s 15-16 age group. Zambian, Tom Donker continued to dominated the 17 and over section, clinching the  100m butterfly race in 56.15 seconds to round up the morning session.

The evening programme at the CANA Zone IV Championships 2017 had to be cut short due to lightning from the bad weather in Bulawayo resulting in the 200m individual medley events being postponed. However, the earlier events had proceeded smoothly with records continuing to tumble.

Zimbabwe Minister of Sport and Recreation, Makhosini Hlongwane attended the afternoon session where he presented medals and got to watch the swimmers in action. Hlongwane expressed pleasure at the country hosting the event saying it was an honour. He said the high level of competition showed that CANA Zone IV was growing each year and the event was exciting. “Besides the bad weather yesterday (Friday) this has been a great event where we have seen many records being set. I am certainly impressed by the level and quality of swimming that has been displayed by the swimmers. “I am also glad to learn that several swimmers have managed to make World Junior Championship times as well as the senior championships in Budapest in July,” said Hlongwane.

He said the organisational side moved smoothly after his Ministry worked together with the Zimbabwe Aquatic Union and Sports and Recreation Commission. Hlongwane said they had worked hard to deliver an international event and the superb organisation had been confirmed by the commendations from the CANA Zone IV executive and other countries attending the event. Some of the new records set in the afternoon session include the men’s 13-14 age group 200m backstroke which now stands at 2:16.91 after South African, Ethan Spieker’s triumph in the race, Zimbabwe’s Robyn Lee clocked 2:23.81 to make a new time in the women 17 and Over 200m backstroke.

Alicia Kok Shun of Mauritius set a new time (1:19.92) in the women 12 and under 100m breast stroke with Namibia’s Mikah Burger set two new records clocking 1:16.36 to mark a new record in the men’s section and 27.46 seconds in the 50m freestyle. Zimbabwe’s Liam O’Hara was also on point in the men’s 15-16 100m breaststroke as he set a new time of 1:07.47.

Meanwhile, in waterpolo, South Africa continued their dominance over Zimbabwe winning all the three games played on Saturday afternoon. South Africa B won 15 -4 boys, while the girls B team won 17-3 girls and the A girls team routed Zimbabwe A 13-4.

Combined Teams Scores after Saturday evening session:

1.          Zimbabwe            2300.5
2.          Zambia                1735
3.          South Africa         1452
4.          Mauritius              1305
5.          Kenya                  1073
6.          Botswana             792
7.          Mozambique         647
8.          Namibia               533.5
9.          Uganda                492
10.        Malawi                 475
11.        Seychelles            462
12.        Angola                 295
13.        Tanzania              173

The full results are available at:
http://swimsa.org/liveresults/2017/2017-cana-zone-iv-swimming-champs-zimbabwe

ENDS

CANA Zone IV is the governing body of aquatics in Southern Africa.
Its objective is to encourage the practice of aquatic disciplines for all in Southern Africa with the purpose of promoting swimming as a life skill through Learn To Swim programmes; providing healthy exercise to Southern Africans of all ages and races; recruiting recreational swimmers to compete in the various competitions; and promoting competition and athlete development to the highest level.