Swimming: Cana Zone IV Championships – Luanda, Angola |08 May 2023
Four-medal winner Nasri Jean-Baptiste (Photo: Contributed)
Five medals for Team Seychelles at continental event
Five medals, precisely two silver and three bronze, make up the total harvest of the Seychelles selection who took part at the recently held Confédération Africaine de Natation Zone IV Championships in Luanda, Angola from May 3-7.
Seychelles was being represented at the event by three swimmers, namely Nasri Jean-Baptiste, Cornelius Opperman and Nathan Nagapin who were being accompanied by coaches Barnsley Albert and Randy Landry.
Jean-Baptiste, who competed in the 11-12 years old category, won four out of the five medals – two silver and two bronze – while Opperman claimed the other bronze medal.
Jean-Baptiste’s silver medals came in the 100m butterfly where he finished second in 1 minute 18.50 seconds (1:18.50), while his second was in the 200m freestyle where he clocked 2:24.16 to finish second.
As for his bronze medals, they came in the 50m freestyle where he finished third in 29.58 seconds, and in the 100m freestyle where he clocked 1:04.24 to finish third.
Opperman, who also competed in the 11-12 years old category, grabbed his bronze medal after finishing third in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:56.30.
As for Nagapin who competed in the 17 years old and above group, he finished sixth overall in the 50m breaststroke, clocking 32.63 seconds, while in the 100m breaststroke he was seventh overall in 1:12.69.
In the 200m breaststroke he clocked 2:42.20 to finish fourth overall, while in the 50m butterfly he finished ninth in a time of 28.31 seconds.
Nagapin was also in action in the 50m freestyle where he clocked 26.93 to finish 11th overall, while in the 200m individual medley he finished eighth with a time of 2:29.69.
The delegation is expected back in the country today.
Meanwhile, Luka Smit, who trains with the Mahé Skimmers Sports Club and goes to the International School Seychelles (ISS), won two gold medals for his native country Malawi. Competing in the boys’ 13-14 years old, Smit, whose parents work in Seychelles, won the 50m freestyle in a time of 26.37 seconds and 100m freestyle in 58.19 seconds which has gone down as an age group record in Malawi.
Roland Duval
