Ammar Ghadiyali (Right)

Eleventh-Hour Olympic inclusion swimmer Ammar Ghadiyali boarded a Heathrow-bound flight in readiness for the Olympic Games that get underway this weekend.

Ghadiyali was expected to join the Tanzania team which is training at the Bradford University now heading to the Olympic Village.

Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) secretary general Noel Kiunsi said the young swimmer has won sponsorship from Cosmos Group and not Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC).

He said his association received communication from the Federation of International Swimming Associations (FINA) informing the latest inclusion of the swimmer into the Olympics fray.

Ghadiyali will be competing under solidarity ticket.

Kiunsi said TSA was at crossroads as TOC had already exhausted the budget for six athletes, their coaches and the officials who left the country for London a fortnight ago.

The executive director of FINA, Cornel Marculescu, was informed by IOC the impossibility of fielding a male Tanzanian swimmer as the quota for the solidarity ticket were exhausted in June.

Ghadiyali secured the opportunity to compete at the Olympics courtesy of some countries that failed to confirm their athletes’ participation.

However, all efforts to send Ghadiyali to the Games at the eleventh hour were made by his parents who worked hard to secure the sponsorship.

Cosmos Group chairman Muhammad Owais Pardesi had parted with a 2.4m/-to facilitate the swimmer’s participation in the Games.

Pardesi pledged his company’s sponsorship to sports development in the country, to enhance relationship, good health and as a source of employment.   

Meanwhile, the country chief de mission Hassan Jarufu said through a telephone interview from London that the country’s athletes are currently undergoing special training at Bradford University in Leeds, and have registered a remarkable progress.

"We are impressed by the performance of the athletes which simply underlines the fact that they are undergoing a special training programme," he said.


Ghadiyali and Magdalena Moshi will represent the country at the Games on solidarity tickets and not eligible for medals. 

The rest of the athletes, including boxer Seleman Kidunda and runners Samson Ramadhani, Mohamed Msenduki, Faustine Mussa and Zakia Mrisho, will compete for medals at the Games.