Rwanda: Olympics – Imaniraguha Fails to Impress in Swimming

Swimmer Eloi Imaniraguha failed to hit his semi-final qualification target in the men’s 50m freestyle at the ongoing Rio Olympics after finishing last in heat 4 posting 26:43.

Imaniraguha, who was making his debut appearance, also failed to beat his personal best of 25:82, hence ranking 68th in the overall rankings out of 85 swimmers that competed.

Tanzania’s Hilal Hemed Hilal topped this heat using 23:70 and was followed by Fahran Fahran, from Behran, who posted 24:61; Nigeria’s Samson Opuakpo came in third with 24:85, while Olim Kurbanov, from Tajikistan, finished fourth with 25:77.

Giordan Harris (Marshal Islands) 25:81, Joshua Tibatemwa (Uganda) 25:98 and Billy Irakoze (Burundi) 26:36 finished the fifth, sixth and seventh places respectively.

No swimmer in this heat managed to qualify for the semi-finals. Out of the 85, only 16 made the cut for the semi-finals slated for today.

The top four ranked were Andriy Hovorov (Ukraine) 21:49, Nathan Adrian (USA) 21:61, Anthony Ervin (USA) 21:63 and Florent Manaudou (France) 21:72.

The New Times

UM– USEKE.RW