By Marizanne Kok

Johannesburg – Swimming South Africa (SSA) need to re-examine their budget for the World Swimming Championships in Rome in July after a lot more swimmers than expected qualified in Durban last week.

SSA said before the national meeting, which served as trials for Rome, that they would be able to take on the costs of 14 swimmers.

However, 19 South Africans made the qualifying A-times to stake their claim for a place in the South African side.

SSA president Jace Naidoo told Sport24 that a final decision about the size of the group will be taken as soon as the official team is received from the selection committee. That will hopefully happen within days.

“It is stated in our criteria for Rome that those who don’t make the top 14 according to the FINA points system can still go to the world championship if they finance themselves. However, that decision may be changed if we can get the necessary funding,” said Naidoo.

“We would obviously like to take as many swimmers as possible with us.”

It is unlikely that sponsors will be approached as they already contribute.

SSA chief executive Shaun Adriaanse mentioned Sascoc when he was asked who might be approached for financial assistance.

Swimmers earned FINA points in Durban based on their best times in the different events. Cameron van der Burgh’s world record in the 50m breaststroke gave him the most (1040) points, while Roland Schoeman earned 1020 for his time in the 50m butterfly.

Young swimmers such as Charl van Zyl and Kathryn Meaklim just made the A-standard time and will anxiously await SSA’s final decision.

Naidoo said SSA had been pleasantly surprised by the good performances in Durban.

“Prior to the meeting there were people who expected 7 or 8 swimmers to qualify for Rome. It’s a massive surprise to have 19, especially taking into consideration that some of our Olympic swimmers were not there.

“Cameron’s world record and all the other records also contributed to the success of the event.”