Africa Aquatics Zone 3 president Donald Rukare has commended Rwanda for hosting a successful 8th Africa Aquatics Zone 3 Swimming Championship which concluded at Gahanga Swimming Pool on Saturday.
Rukare was in attendance as Rwanda hosted what he described as "an extraordinary” championship” which, he said, will go down in history as the best ever.
"This championship will go into records as the best ever. Rwanda has emerged and done well in hosting the athletes and organizing better competition which is a successful tournament,” he said.
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The official said that Rwanda was excellent in organizing the tournament, in terms management, transport, accommodation, feeding, medical issues and security to mention a few.
"No team complained about the services offered and everything has been of high standard," he added.
Rukare, who also doubles as Vice-President of Africa Aquatics, also stressed that hosting pools were all equipped with the necessary facilities.
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He expressed gratitude towards Rwanda’s swimming federation, and government as well as ordinary Rwandan for their ‘undying efforts’ to host a good tournament.
Rwanda, which had 65 representatives in the competition, bagged 21 medals overall and secured a fourth-place finish in the 10-nation competition with 1348 points.
It’s performance that Rwanda Swimming Federation president Pamela Girimbabazi rated as ‘fair’ before admitting that there is need that the country improves the level of competitions so that the athletes can win many medals in future.
"Though our own team didn’t win many medals but it was a good experience for some young athletes who will be the future of the sport in Rwanda," Girimbabazi emphasized.
Africa Aquatics Zone 3 Swimming Championship was initially scheduled to be held in Sudan but, due to security issues the championship was relocated to Rwanda who last hosted a similar competition in 2016.
Over 250 swimmers from Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, South Africa, and host nation Rwanda gathered in Kigali for the regional competition.
Uganda was the overall winner after topping the medals with 3206 points, followed by Kenya with 2753 points and Tanzania who finished in third place with 1843 points.
They competed in various categories including Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly.