The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
SWIMMER Andressious Cyprianos’ flirtation with the sport will soon be coming to an end as he has opted to pursue his academics.
Cyprianos is back from the United States after completing a four-and-a-half year journey that saw him travel to the country on a swimming scholarship.
The former Pace University student completed his undergraduate studies in February where he graduated in actuarial sciences specialising in economics and mathematics.
He walked away with two awards during graduation, the economics award, for being the outstanding student in the economics class and the magna cum laude award for obtaining 3.65 GPA (between 90 and 92 percent) in his results.
The former Christian Brothers College pupil revealed he had already retired from swimming in February but will be coming back to represent the country at the 2019 African Games scheduled for Morocco next month.
He said he will be focusing on obtaining a masters degree next year and won’t be taking part in swimming.
“I had already left swimming but I was convinced to represent the country at the African Games and so now I’m back in the pool practising hard for the event next month.
I have decided to pursue academics than sports and will be returning to the States to do a masters in January,” said Cyprianos.
He also disclosed that his football exploits saw a request from an agent to attend trials for a United States based team.
He said his love for football saw him team up with other like-minded college mates which resulted in his abilities in between the posts as a goalkeeper being noticed by the scout.
“When I arrived at Pace there was no football team so I hooked up with other soccer lovers and we started playing and we were then afforded the opportunity to play with other colleges.
I was invited for trials as a goalkeeper and I am strongly considering attending the trials and pursuing a life in the sport,” said Cyprianos.
He revealed his four-year stay in the States taught him to be independent as he arrived in a country where he had no close relative adding being alone enabled him to grow as an individual.
Cyprianos said he arrived to a different swimming culture in the States, where team work was critical unlike in Zimbabwe where the focus has been on individual exploits.
He said being on the roll for the All-American honourable mentions in 2016 was one of his proud achievements.
Cyprianos was awarded a scholarship in 2015 following an illustrious career as a junior swimmer that saw him break several records in a medal haul of over 120 between 2008 and the time he got the financial support for his studies.
