Katemba, Lubega lead Aquatic onslaught at Dolphins Gala

The Dolphins Fast and Furious swimming Gala returned with a huge sell out and endorsement from the fraternity after a two year hiatus.

There were 536 swimmers from 19 clubs at the event held at Llilo Park - Akamwesi Mall in Kanyanya on Saturday and one that seeks to reward individual rather than team performance.

In the previous four editions before the Covid-19 pandemic, this gala was about speedsters and had entry times to cut off the numbers.

However, this year "we wanted to assess the level of swimming at a deeper level as we also assess how to hold the Dolphins Juniors Gala next year," Dolphins head coach Tonnie Kasujja, said of the competition that has only 50m sprints for all styles and a 100m individual medley. 

"If we had put entry times, maybe we would have denied some younger swimmers a chance to show their potential. And we were also not really sure of the strength in some age groups so we decided to have open entries," he added.

Individual honors

Glory Upendo bossed the sparsely represented 15 and over girls' age group while Kevin Rugaaju ensured he won the boys' individual medley (1:09.07), backstroke (31.59) and freestyle (26.60) as Dolphins topped this age group.

The breaststroke went to their teammate Ian Aziku (33.49) while Aquatic Academy's Daniel Kayemba (28.48) won the butterfly.

The Aquatic duo of Karimah Katemba and Akram Lubega topped the 13-14 years girls and boys' age group respectively while their younger teammates Mushira Nabatanzi and Makeen Kajumbi topped the 8 and unders. 

Katemba was comfortable throughout bar in the 50m butterfly where she finished second (33.24) behind teammate Rahmah Nakasule (31.54).

Lubega also depended on his butterfly (29.52) and freestyle to stem off competition from the Dolphins duo of Malcolm Nahamya and Nathan Nsereko plus the Sailfish brothers Mathew and Arthur Mwase. 

Zara Mbanga continued her 9-10 girls' dominance from the July National Club Championships while her teammate Peyton Suubi led the 11-12s. Kigundu Sango beat a host of promising 11 year olds to the top of the 11-12 boys'age group.

Torpedo's coach Simon Busulwa described his team's performance as "above average, maybe a 65 percent" but noted the "need for more work," as Aiden Immelman topped the 11-12 year boys.