A swimmer competing in the
freestyle event during the
first day of the 21st Brunei
Age Group Swimming
Championships earlier this
year. Singapore is set to
host the 2015 World Junior
Swimming Championships at the
aquatic centre of the Singapore
Sports Hub, which will be
completed next year. Picture:
Courtesy of Lim Kee Ann
Singapore will host the World Junior Swimming Championships in 2015, after being awarded the hosting rights by FINA, the sport's international governing body.
Fina president Julio Maglione made the announcement at a meeting held ahead of the World Championships, which began in Barcelona on Friday, as reported in Singapore's Straits Times.
The biennial event for Under-18 swimmers will take place at the aquatic centre of the Singapore Sports Hub, which will be completed next year.
Budapest was awarded hosting rights for the 2017 edition of the meet.
This year's edition of the biennial World Junior Swimming Championships will be held from August 26 - 31 in Dubai.
The tournament is divided into two age-groups; girls (14-17 years-old on 31 December 2013) and boys (15-18 years-old on 31 December 2013).
The last edition of the meet was held in Lima, Peru, in 2011 with 42 new championships records and 19 countries with medals among the 58 nations that participated in the event with 528 swimmers (246 women and 282 men).
According to the meet's website, United States dominated the medal count (11 gold, eight silver and three bronze) and on the scores (964 points), followed by Canada (620) and Japan (516.50). The Japanese team won 19 medals (seven gold, nine silver and three bronze) and the Canadian earned 14 (four gold, five silver and five bronze).
The national swimming team are currently in Singapore to prepare for the World Championships which is ongoing in Barcelona.
The quartet of Christian Nikles, Tiara Sharil Anwar, Muhammad Isa Ahmad and Nur Hamizah Ahmad left to Singapore for a training camp on July 8 and will depart for Barcelona tomorrow for the July 19 August 4 competition, since the swimming events will only begin on July 28.
Nikles will take part in the both the men's 50-metre and 100m freestyle events while Muhammad Isa will swim in the men's 50m and 100m breaststroke events.
Tiara will swim in the women's 50m and 100m freestyle while Nur Hamizah in both the 50m and 100m backstroke events.
National swim coach, Eric Landa, is looking at making full use of their time there to be completely ready for the tournament.
"Ramadhan has started and this means that both the swimming pool and gym are very sparsely available to us," said Landa in a previous report published in The Brunei Times.
"It basically comes down to one hour per day of swimming for six days, which is not enough for what we usually do (20 hours a week for 50 weeks a year) and certainly not enough to prepare for a competition such as the World Championships...
"Since we are very serious about taking part in any international tournament, from the beginning when I arrived, it was never an option to participate from an under-trained situation," he added.
"When you go, you must be ready and eager to do better than ever before only then participation becomes useful and meaningful."
