Strokes of success

TALENTED teenager Luna Kamal’s athletic career has been going swimmingly as she rakes in medals and hopes to represent the kingdom in the Olympics in future.

The 13-year-old Ibn Khuldoon National School student, who is part of the Bahrain Swimming Association (BSA) junior team, has snapped up countless medals for her skills over the years.

Her desire to take up the sport professionally continues to grow and she strives to develop it one stroke at a time.

“I hope to take part in the Olympics and represent Bahrain, as well as break a world record, in future,” said Kamal. “I want to compete professionally in swimming and if that doesn’t work out, I’d like to be a swim coach.

“I find peace in swimming. After a long day, I like going to the pool and training with my team. It relieves all my stress. Swimming has a special place in my heart.”

Kamal started swimming at the age of eight when her award-winning triathlete mum, May Alhaji, enrolled her in a swim team.

“When my mum first started triathlons, she found swimming to be the hardest of the three sports,” she explained.

Alhaji, a Bahraini telecom marketing specialist, who started learning swimming at the age of 34, won the Bahraini and GCC Women’s title in the Ironman 70.3 Middle East Championship in December last year.

“She thought learning swimming would make life easier for me if I became interested in triathlons later on in life,” Kamal added. “My family, including my dad Nezar, and my nine-year-old brother Yousif, supported and encouraged me after I realised I wanted to continue swimming.”

A few months after she started training, Kamal was thrown into the deep end of competitions where she occasionally won gold and had fun competing in the process.

“I enjoyed competing against rival swimmers in addition to my teammates,” said Kamal who favours the breaststroke. “I was surprised to find that it didn’t take me long to get used to training again after Covid-19. When the first competition was announced after the pandemic, I brought home a few medals, and as time went on, I started to win even more. That motivated me to push myself to the limit each time to shave off a few seconds and celebrate with family and friends.”

Some of her accolades include a gold in the 100-metre breaststroke in the BSA series in October 2021 and second place in the 200m Individual Medley (IM) in which swimmers compete in all four strokes (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle) in one race — with each leg being 50m in length.

She had also snapped up gold in another BSA contest in December 2021 and even came first in the Bahrain Schools and Collegiate Athletic Association (BSCAA) meet in March 2022 in the girls’ (12-18 years) 50m freestyle.

She notched a few more points and victories in November 2022, including first in the BSCAA girls (8&O) 100m breaststroke and second in the girls (8&O) 50m breaststroke.

She trains six days a week, sometimes adding an extra session or two in the mornings before school, for about an hour-and-a half to two hours with Coach Dhafer. She is also working on her butterfly and aims to break the 35-second barrier in freestyle.

Aside from training, she enjoys early morning swims with her mum.

“My mum is someone I always look up to,” said Kamal. “She was involved in a bike accident in 2021 and though she recovered and become stronger, she still experienced some dark days.”

Alhaji had broken six ribs and her right shoulder. She, however, battled all odds to win the Ironman 70.3 Salalah GCC title. She was also the eighth woman overall and second in her age group.

“My mum never stopped believing in herself and grew both mentally and physically stronger every day,” added Kamal. “I felt grateful for my amazing mother and family and wanted to strive to be the best version of myself.”

Alhaji is proud of Kamal and loves to see her triumphs and ‘the way she handles her losses too.”

“Watching Luna compete is one of my favourite things to do,” Alhaji said.

“Seeing her grow from strength to strength makes me so proud. I take videos of her every time she competes and when I go back to look at the videos, I tear up to see how far she has come since she was eight.

“It also brings so much joy to my heart to see her swim by me and lap me in the pool. I want her to chase her dreams no matter what, break barriers, pave the road for other girls and inspire them to chase their dreams as well.”

For details, follow @luna.nykamal.