Oman to take part in GCC aquatics meet 

(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) A 21-member swimming team will represent Oman at the 22nd GCC Aquatics Championship to be held in Manama, Bahrain from September 19-22. The team will depart for Bahrain on Tuesday.Speaking to Muscat Daily, Taha al Kishry, Oman Swimming Association chairman, said, ''This is the largest ever squad of swimmers for a GCC championship and we expect a rich haul of medals."The championship will feature open, age-group and U10 events and our team has prepared hard over the past few months for the meet.''The team has been training under two new coaches - Kamal al Khamri of Algeria and Zsolt Horvath of Hungary - from July, first at Al Saada Complex in Salalah and for the past couple of weeks at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.Khamri said, ''This is an important championship and the swimmers are geared up to compete with the region's best. We also have high hopes from the age-group swimmers.''Horvath, who replaced long-serving Oman coach Istvan Kormos of Hungary, is keen to have a winning start with his boys. ''Senior swimmers like Aiman al Kulaibi, Khalid al Kulaibi, Mohammed al Mussallami and Naif al Qasmi have been training under me."This is the first test for me and I hope to get good results. The timings during training sessions have improved over the past few months. We need to see what happens in Bahrain,'' he said._________________________________Oman to host next championship in 2013Meanwhile, Kishry said that OSA has submitted a bid to host the 23rd edition of the GCC Aquatics Championship in 2013 and a formal decision will be taken at the GCC meeting in Manama on the sidelines of the championship.''We are all set to host the biggest swimming event in the GCC. We have already started working for it and a formal decision will be taken in Bahrain,'' he said.