Lunkuse shines for dominant Seals

KAMPALA. Olympian Jamila Lunkuse believes the July 2-5 Seals Invitational Swimming Championship that climaxed yesterday at Kampala Parents School will help her a great deal in regaining her fitness levels after final examinations distracted her training regime.
Lunkuse, 18, who completed her year 13 (equivalent of senior six) last month at England’s Plymouth College, is representing Seals Swim Club locally and had comfortably won three medals in as many events on Thursday and Friday before taking a rest over the weekend.
“I am a bit off-form because I have been doing exams but I think the times I have done are okay,” Lunkuse said before insisting she can do better in the future.
However, she was quick to add that the competition here hasn’t been as intense as the one she get from peers back in England.

“There are not many older people doing swimming here. The times are always close (during meets in England),” she added.
Lunkuse, who missed the shortcourse World Championships in Qatar last year due to a foot injury, is aiming to represent Uganda at the All Africa Games as she awaits her results but for now she remains part of a Seals team that has been dominant at the meet.
Nuwa Senkebe (14 gold medals) has dominated the long distance races while siblings Anthea (10gold and one silver medal) and Ann Mudanye, Katrina Ssangalyambogo, Mercedes Mwebeiha (eight gold), Ryant Jeremy (10 gold) and Avice Meya have also been part of a Seals team that won comfortably at the championships.

“In swimming you should be able to compete against yourself if the opponents are not good enough. That’s the beauty of our sport, you are always thinking of swimming faster than your last event,” Seals coach Chisela Kanchela said, downplaying the fact that his large contingent of 75 saw his team win the championships thanks to the politics of large numbers. Other clubs like Altona had 12 swimmers while Kenya’s Torpedo fielded 16.