Gambian Swimmers Shine in Dakar Swimming

By Omar Jarju Press Officer, in Dakar

Amadou Ndoye Diop of Yoff emerged as champion for the first time as three Gambian swimmers shined at the 28th edition of the Dakar-Goree Open Water Swimming competition held in Senegal on the 27th September 2015.

 Pap D. Jonga and Jegan Y. Jobe of Barra, and Momodou Lamin Saine of Bakau competed in the 4.5Km and successfully completed the race.

In the Men cadet category of Course B of the 4.5km race, Momodou Lamin Saine came out 54th with a timing of 01:28:10 and an overall ranking of 362, whilst Pap D. Jonga finished 92 with an improved timing of 01:44:10 and a ranking of 363 and Jegan Y. Jobe finished 110th with a ranking of 364 out of the 423 swimmers in course B.

The competition was categorised into two courses, A & B. Course A was the longest - 5.2Km course for senior swimmers, whilst course B was the junior course of 4.5Km for cadet and junior swimmers. The Gambia participating for the second time joined other 10 countries like France, India, Japan, Niger etc. The Gambian team was accompanied by six officials among them two International FINA Open Water referees Arfang Y. Jobe and Amadou Danso, who also officiated as course judges.

The event it’s an annual programme organized by the Senegalese Swimming Federation with the aim to help expose talents to International Open Water Swimming competitions and also avail  chance to the Gambian International Open Water Swimming Referees to officiate in high level international competitions to sharpen their experience.