Dubai - Arab Today
Fresh from their gold medal winning performances at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, South Africa's swimming stars Chad Le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh will be among an impressive line up of champions heading to Dubai later this month for the second round of the FINA/Mastbank Swimming World Cup.
Dubai will host the second round of the seven-leg highly competitive World Cup series, from August 31st until September 1st, and while the final entry list is yet to be confirmed, many Olympic, World and Commonwealth champions have indicated they will be among the world class field.
Ahmed Al Falasi, President of the U.A.E. Swimming Association and Chairman of the Organising Committee said, "We are looking forward to seeing the best in the world competing in Dubai again, the performances at the Commonwealth Games have been wonderful and show that the swimmers will be in great form and the competition will be tough".
"It is very exciting to see the swimmers performing so well at the Commonwealth Games, and promises some great contests here later this month. We encourage sports fans to witness this exciting competition at the Hamdan Sports Complex," added Dr. Ahmad Saad Al Sharif, General Secretary of Dubai Sports Council.
The Swimming World Cup is contested in a 25m pool and sees both men and women vying for prize money in each of the 36 events. The overall men's and women's series winner also receives US$100,000. The event will see teams from over 30 countries competing for honours.
Chad Le Clos, a crowd favourite in Dubai, dominated in his pet 100m and 200m butterfly events at the Commonwealth Games, taking gold and setting a new Games record in the 100m butterfly in the process. Le Clos also picked up silver in the 4x100m relay, and four bronze medals in the 50m butterfly, the 200m individual medley, the 4x200m freestyle relay and the 4x100m medley relay.
Le Clos' teammate and fellow world and Olympic champion Cameron van der Burgh collected a box set of medals from the Commonwealth Games, taking gold in the 50m breaststroke, silver in the 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 4x 100m medley relay.
Source: WAM