Eight young Tongan swimmers from the Hakula Swim Club competed at the 2017 Anthony Mosse Classic competition when they visited Auckland last month, during an exposure trip that allowed them to also train with other swimming clubs.

The results saw Iki Tui’tavake (14) winning two bronze medals in the 50m breaststroke and 50m backstroke, Siutaka Fatongia (13) and Sione Moutu’apuaka (12) who had never competed at a competition before, achieved 39 personal best times out of 50 races.

Mosese Fineanganofo (11) achieved his largest single personal best  in 100 free with 27.28 secs and largest overall personal best was achieved by Koti Uhi (11) with 52.84 secs in his category.

The swimmers also had a swim meet with the City Central and Roskill Swimming clubs.

The club stated a total of nine swimmers from 9-14 years old benefitted greatly from training in an actual pool in contrast to training in the ocean, allowing them to refine their race skills and they rose to the challenge.

Hakula’s coach Rochelle Fineanganofo and Sandra Burrows the Tonga Olympic Swim coach to Rio 2016 were with the young swimmers.

The trip was from January 11-23.