By Oscar Pilipili
Western Province is looking forward to a bright future in swimming following the construction of a standard pool at Mudasa Academy in Vihiga District.
Western schools games’ secretary, Albert Masiolo, said yesterday swimmers from the region have failed in the sport due to lack of such a facility.
"Our swimmers have always been non-starters in schools’ championships partly because they have nowhere to train," said Masiolo.
"We’ve been travelling to Kisumu for training lessons which is very expensive affair but finally our prayers have been answered," he said. The 25-metre pool meets all the requirements to host a national competition.
Western swimming team of four girls and 17 boys has pitched camp at Mudasa in readiness for the national games in Embu next month.
Strong team
"We’ve selected a strong team and are training at a standard pool. We want them to be among top competitors at the championships," said Masiolo.
The athletes are from Mudasa, Booker Academy and Musingu.
The official named Allan Moseti (Booker) and Brian Kiilu (Mudasa) as the most promising swimmers from the Province.
Following the development, sports leaders from the region have launched an interim office to manage swimming.
Masiolo said: "We’ve applied for affiliation to the Kenya Swimming Federation seeking to stage competitions here."
Swimming is one of the disciplines on the programme of the Brookside Kenya Secondary Schools Championships.
Others are basketball, hockey, rugby sevens, cross-country, decathlon and heptathlon.
