SWIMMING: BILLING SISTERS BAG 6 GOLD IN SA MEET

Germiston, South Africa - 1-3 April 2011 

Simran Billing, 11, and her sister, Anika, 12, harvested six gold medals and helped Kenya bag a total of 14 medals in the just-concluded 2011 Telkom Level 1 Regional Swimming Championship in Germiston, South Africa. Simran who made the hotly contested 11-year-old 100 m freestyle final on day one of the championship together with two other Kenyans, Emma Ogao, and Daniella Maina, clocked 1.16.02 to win Kenya’s first gold. Anika gave Kenya its second gold medal after tying at 1.12.77 with Namibia’s Nicole Pienaar in the 12-year-old 100 m freestyle final.

Anika went on to win three more gold medals, while Simran added another gold medal  - in days two and three of the long course event. Simran also won silver in 50 M freestyle, and both Billings teamed up with Yvonne Njoroge and Daniella Maina to bag four more silver medals in the 4x100 M freestyle relay. Emma and Dale Kimani, 11, won bronze medals in 100 m breaststroke, while Simran won bronze in 50 m freestyle.

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Anika, Emma, and Simran made it to the finals of all the events that they were entered. Other finalists were Dale, Salman Hasham, Sofia Hansen, Virginia Okumu, Emilia Oostman, and Daniella. This was the first major international meet for most of the young swimmers who represented Kenya in Germiston.

More than 40 clubs and teams participated in this year’s championship. The event, which brings together swimmers aged between 10 and 16 years from countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia, ended on 3 April 2011. Kenya’s girl’s team finished 10^th overall, while the boy’s team finished in position 34. Level 1 is the final leg of a three-part competition that kicked off in Durban (Level 3) on 18 March. Level 2 was held in Cape Town from 25-28 March 2011. Level 1 will end on 4 April. Kenya was represented by 20 swimmers, and accompanied by three Nairobi Swimming Association (NASA) officials.

Head of the Kenyan delegation and NASA chairman, Teddy Wamunyu, was very impressed with the team’s performance. “I’m happy with the team that represented Kenya at Germiston. Most of the swimmers have improved their personal best times drastically, shaving off as many as 10 seconds off their seed times,” Teddy said.

 These swimmers will be in action again at the National Junior Swimming Championship at the Aga Khan School, Mombasa, on 12, 13 May 2011.