meet the qualifying criteria,” Mary Kloppers, chairperson of the Mashonaland Amateur Swimming Board, confirmed.
She said the swimmers were now gunning for the African Junior Swimming Championship to be held in Cairo, Egypt in December.
Sixteen countries have entered athletes to compete in the World Cup.
In a dramatic change in the formula of previous seasons, the Fina/Arena World Swimming Cup will be reduced to a five-week event rather than one of several months, as was the case between 2003 and 2006.
And in a revised schedule, Durban will host the first leg of the seven events on October 19 and 20, with the others scheduled to follow in rapid succession in Singapore, Sydney, Moscow, Stockholm, Berlin and Belo Horizonte in Brazil from 23-25 November.
It was also confirmed that Durban would remain a host city of the world championships for the three years to 2009.
World champion Kirsty Coventry and Heather Brand competed in some of the legs of the World Cup last year.
According to the accumulative event points system, put in place in this year’s FINA/ Arena Swimming World Cup series, the top-placed male and female swimmers on the points list will earn US$100,000 each, with the second-placed male and female swimmers set to receive US$50,000 each.
The third-placed male and female swimmers on the points list will collect US$30,000 each.
The scoring system has been revised to include points based on the FINA rankings for the best times at each meet for the first 10 swimmers. Points will range from 25 points for first place to one point for tenth place. – CAJ News
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News