Season 3 of the Ghana Swim League bounced back at Meet 1 on Saturday, October 19, 2024, as 15 swim clubs across Ghana witnessed their swimmers historically battling for supremacy at the Borteyman Aquatic Complex in the Greater Accra Region.
The biggest news saw a 4-year-old girl from GH Aquatic Masters, Kimberly Ayinbono Adugmolko, set a season record, following in the footsteps of former Ghana’s youngest swimmer Alexis Ewura Esi Smith to become the current Ghana’s youngest swimmer at age 4. The young kid Kimberly made headlines when she dived into the competition pool in the first heat of the Meet 1 in Girls 50 meter Breaststroke alongside 7 others.
Kimberly, born on July 3, 2020, at the Accra Regional Hospital to Francisca Ahor-Labie and Sgt. Adugmolko Samuel Ayambila started her swimming journey at the age of 2 at the GAF Sports Complex in Burma Camp.
Contentiously, 17 events that were competed for by both men and women were 50m Breaststroke, 50m Butterfly, 100m Backstroke, 200m Freestyle, 200m IM, 4×50m Freestyle Relay among others.
According to Ermines Onyema, Official Announcer of the Ghana Swim League, Kimberly now joins the likes of Alexis Smith from Torpedo Swim Club back in Season 1 on January 28, 2023, where Alexis made her debut in Girls 50-meter Freestyle at the Ghana Armed Forces Sports Complex in Burma Camp at the age of 4.
Moreover, Meet 1 witnessed an amazing start to the Season as the spectators saw the return of Ghana’s biggest asset, Abeiku Jackson, 25, a two-time Olympian and continental multiple medal winner, competing for GH Dolphins. Africa Aquatics superstar Harry Stacey, 24, was a big absentee for his team Marlins as Titus Ankrah, Micheal Crabbe-Mann and Kelvin Abdallah all returned from Africa Aquatics Zone 2 to compete for their respective clubs.
President of Ghana Swimming Federation, Mrs. Delphina Quaye remains upbeat that Ghana will have lots of swimmers till eternity should this wonderful omen continue. Farida Ayishatu Iddriss, Bureau Member of World Aquatics and doubles as Treasurer of the Ghana Swimming Association is impressed with the growth of the aquatic sports in Ghana. Christopher Essilfie, Board Chairman of the Swim League alongside Kojo Abbiw Jackson, Director of Ghana Swim League were heavily represented.
Meanwhile, the swim league returns at Meet 2 on November 30, 2024, at the Aquatic Complex in Borteyman where 4-year-old Kimberly Adugmolko and her charges will look to put up an improved performance to continue her aquatic sports career in Ghana.
Source: Ermines Onyema, Contributor