KwaZulu-Natal Aquatics president Peter Thompson has confirmed that eThekwini Municipality was among the six cities announced by the world governing body of swimming, Fina, bidding to stage the 14th Fina World Aquatic Championships in 2011.
Thompson said that this was great news, not only for KwaZulu-Natal, but also for the rest of the country, because the World Aquatic Championships are regarded to be alongside the Soccer World Cup in terms of stature, logistics and numbers of competitors.
Incorporated in the World Aquatic Championships are five disciplines — swimming, open-water swimming, synchronised swimming, diving and water polo, which would involve about 3 000 competitors over a 15-day period.
The world swimming championships are held every two years, the last edition being in Montreal last year and the next two in Melbourne in March 2007 and Rome in July 2009.
According to Fina, six countries have entered bids for their cities to host the 2011 edition.
They are Durban (South Africa), Madrid (Spain), Doha (Qatar) and San Francisco (United States), along with China and Japan who have yet to nominate a city.
The 2011 host city will be decided by the Fina executive on March 16 next year at the 12th World Aquatic Championships in Melbourne from March 17 to April 1 2007.
Thompson said: ”A bid to host the 2011 world championships is being prepared by eThekwini, which will receive technical support from Swimming South Africa (SSA) and KZN Swimming. ”The city has already submitted to Fina its intention to bid for the championships, which has been supported by SSA.” — Sapa