TORONTO, 22 June — Ex-Olympians, top swimming coaches and instructors, have joined a save-swimming pool campaign in Toronto saying pools are a place to breed champions who win laurels for the country. The campaigners are desperately trying to convince Toronto’s school authorities not to close 85 swimming pools. The Toronto School Board needs to make $73 million in cuts to the school system.
Former Olympians such as Rob Colburn and 1992 Olympic swim coach Bayron MacDonald took a delegation to the education authorities asking them to withdraw their proposals. Karen Hunt, the head of a new body – Save Our Pools – criticized proposals to reduce swimming activities.
“Many experts feel that Toronto won’t produce future swimming Olympian hopefuls without pools to swim in but in my opinion there’s more at stake,” she said in a statement Thursday.
“Pools are not just a place to breed Olympians but a place to build confidence in young people and teach them water smarts,” Hunt added.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated event in Toronto, a sportsman of Pakistani origin has been deported to Sweden, his adopted country, Thursday morning. According to immigration authorities, bodybuilder Muhammad Junaid Anjum, 27, had arrived in Canada 20 days ago with one-way ticket with “hopes of getting refugee status here.” He had traveled to Toronto on Swedish passport and applied for visa on arrival. Anjum had the right to go to court of law but he preferred to return to Stockholm after having consultations with immigration lawyers. Junaid had been in detention for the last 19 days. He also contacted Ms. Yaseemn Rabbani, an immigration consultant, to seek her help.
Junaid, a silver medalist of 1987 bodybuilding event of Pakistan’s National Championship, has been taken to Toronto’s detention center after immigration authorities thought he was not carrying complete legal travel documents.
The 27-year-old Karachi-born Anjum told Arab News over telephone from detention center near Pearson International Airport that he was traveling on a Swedish passport and under the Canadian laws he was entitled to get entry visa on arrival here. Anjum, who finished second in the “Mr” Pakistan contest in Multan 14 years ago, has recently acquired Swedish nationality.
