BAHRAIN’S fastest swimmer has praised the new national health, safety and sporting initiative which aims to teach 10,000 youngsters to swim and said ‘it will help save lives’.
Farhan Saleh Faraj took to the water at his local pool in Hamad Town at the age of six, when his father Saleh Faraj Sulton, a Bahraini GCC champion swimmer, encouraged him and his brother to get involved in the sport.
Now 26, he started training with the national team two years later after being spotted at a summer swimming camp. Mr Faraj joined Bahrain’s national team at the age of 11 and competed in the 2007 GCC Swimming Championships in Kuwait.
“The scheme offers a great opportunity to practise a sport that boosts mental and physical health,” Mr Faraj told the GDN.
“It also allows children to learn to safely enjoy themselves in the water.
“The move will help combat deaths in the sea and in swimming pools across Bahrain.”
The three agencies involved in the initiative – the Bahrain Olympic Committee, the Bahrain Swimming Association and Royal Life Saving Bahrain – have pledged to teach 10,000 youngsters to swim by the end of 2023.
Mr Faraj, who works for Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also praised the initiative as an opportunity to uncover the future of Bahraini swimming. “Bahrain’s Swimming Academy in Isa Town is always looking for young children to join the team and if possible, the national team, I think the initiative is a great step in that direction,” he said.
Mr Faraj holds national records in the 50m (23.96 seconds), 100m (52.83), and 200m (2.00.81) freestyle swimming events. He also competed in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil in the 50m freestyle event and in the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Hungary where he broke the record for Bahrain’s fastest 50m freestyle.
The GDN earlier reported that 12 fatal and five non-fatal drowning incidents were recorded in Bahrain over the last two years.
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