"What I would like is that in three years from now we would be able to go to the Olympic Games because we have reached the minimum qualifications and not through the criterion of universality", said Joaquim Santos, president of FAN, to Lusa.
In the Tokyo 2020 Games, Angola has ensured the presence of a swimmer and a swimmer, whose names are not yet defined, through the criterion of universality.
The two representatives of the country in Tokyo will surely come out of a range of swimmers who live and train outside the country, eight of which are in Portugal.
"In terms of technical conditions and training we are leagues from Portugal. Therefore, swimmers leave our country to conclude their academic lives and improve their competitive level", explained the president, elected last November.
In addition to swimmers Lia Lima, Maria Lopes, Daniel Francisco, Henrique Mascarenhas, João Gonçalves, Pedro Pintos, Filipe Freitas and João Duarte, who train in Portugal, there are also Angolan athletes in the sport to train in London, Kazan and Cape Town .
Committed to making swimming "cease to be an elite sport in Angola, practiced in less than 10 clubs", and to increase the recruitment base for high competition, "which is very weak", FAN wants to learn of the work being developed in Portugal.
"This protocol will allow Portuguese coaches to provide training to technical staff in Angola. But first, we have to go through a training certification process," explained Joaquim Santos, also admitting the intention to use the internship centers in Rio Maior and of Jamor.
Joaquim Santos admitted his willingness to promote an internal dispute that would increase competition and to continue to support internships abroad: "We intend to put the best in long-term internships, but also to bring them to Angola to serve as an example".
The president of FAN also wants to bet on water polo, "a modality that has already been practiced in an amateur way, but that deserves to be taken more seriously".
The protocol between the Portuguese Swimming Federation and the FAN will be signed before the Coimbra - Towards Tokyo 2020 event, qualifying for the Olympic Games, which takes place over the weekend, and in which several Angolan swimmers will participate, in search of points for the ranking of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), which will dictate the country's representatives in Japan.
