Gambia's 50m sprinter Pap Jonga has set new personal records at the 16th World Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia, in the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly events.

The national swimming team participated in the recently concluded event in the capital of Tatartan. The FINA World Championships are the largest international aquatic sports event hosted by the International Swimming Federation (FINA). It's one of the most watched international sporting events and reports intimated that the latest edition reached a total worldwide television audience of almost 4.5 billion viewers.

Two swimmers represented The Gambia in this joint Olympic qualifier for Rio 2016. Momodou Lamin Saine from Bakau competed in 50m breaststroke for the first time with a timing of 0:41.49, whilst Pap Jonga from Barra competed in three events. These are 50m freestyle with an entry timing of 0:30.00sec and a finishing timing of 0:27.24sec. In the 50m butterfly, entry timing of 0:39.57sec and a finishing timing of 0:32.36sec.

According to the national team coach, Raoul Sambou, this was a great achievement for his team. He said they had little preparation with a 10 days camp in Senegal were they accessed 50 meter Olympic swimming pool to build up their techniques, timings, psychology and learn new changes in the strokes and competition rules.

The Gambian team's trip, according to secretary general of The Gambia Swimming Association, Yerro Njie, was made possible with the "unflinching support" of The Gambia National Olympic Committee, who airlifted the two athletes to the games.

Njie, who doubled as an international technical officer (ITO) at the Championship, head the delegation.

The FINA World Championships were first held in 1973 in Belgrade (Yugoslavia). From 1978-1998, the Championships were staged every four years, in the even years between Summer Olympic years. From 2001 on, the World Championships have been held every two years, in the odd years.

This year world class event was held from the 24th July to 09th August 2015, in conjunction with the 16th FINA World Masters Championship 2015 (from 5th -16th 2015). The medal table was top by Peoples Republic of China with a total of 35 medals ( 15 Gold, 10 silver and 10 Bronzes), followed by the United States of America with a total of 33 medals ( 13 Gold, 14 Silver and 6 Bronzes), then Russia with ( 9 Gold, 4 silver and 4 Bronzes).