Talons in danger, Astros 90 points away

Talons have seen over a 700-point lead ebb away to just 90 in about a month in the Uganda Swimming League.

On Friday during Match 34 of at British School of Kampala (BSK) Muyenga, they were beaten by 360 points by bottom-placed Colts and 230 points by immediate chasers Astros.

Astros now have 18,290 overall points while Colts have also cut into Talons lead to just 540 points with an overall total of 17,840.

Talons, however, have themselves to blame as their swimmers have for four matches come bottom of the personal bests challenge and also got disqualified thrice in the relays on Friday.

Astros had four disqualifications in the relays but had performed strongly in the PBs challenge and outperformed Talons in the other seven relays. 

It did not help Talons, both in the relays and PB heats, that their captain Abigail Mwagale was unavailable for Match 34. 

Astros captain Paula Nabukeera utilized the advantage of swimming under less pressure to lower the league's 50m freestyle best time by a microsecond to 29.98.

Nabukeera said her "celebration had nothing to do with beating Abigail's time but beating my PB," which was over 31 seconds.

It could have been worse for Talons but their captain on the day Blessing Kaitesi, Sonia Mwere and Elijah Wamala left it late to post personal bests that allowed them hold onto their advantage. 

But going by current form, it is hard to see how Talons retain their 25-match stranglehold on the league as Astros since to be the team with momentum. Colts will need another gigantic performance to come back into the picture.

However, there might be another tweak to the seeding system after Match 34 determined how fast everyone is in the 50m freestyle currently while their promising star Gabriella Ndyanabo is also set to leave the country to further her studies abroad.

OVERALL POINTS

Talons - 18,380

Astros - 18,290

Colts - 17,840

Match 34 Results

Event               Astros  Talons  Colts

Open                360       250       310

Razor 1            120       080       240

Razor 2            240       120       180

Razor 3            060       120       220

Razor 4            080       060       040

Total Points     860      630       990