Gold rush as African Swimming Championships start in Nairobi

  By Oscar Pilipili

Top African swimmers among them Olympians convene at Moi International Sports Centre Aquatic Stadium, Nairobi, to compete in African Senior Championships Monday.

Kenyans are looking upon experienced captain Jason Dunford to lead their campaign as the phenomenal swimmer takes part in two events on day one of the Championships.

Dunford, a semi-finalist at recent London Olympic Games, teams up with Abdulmajid Kaderenan in 200m freestyle before plunging in the pool to participate in 50m backstroke.

Dunford said they will do their best to ensure Kenya claims the overall title at the end of the five-day Championships.

“Everybody in the team has trained hard and all are positive about the Championships. We want to win as many medals as possible to finish at the top,” he said yesterday.

Other Kenyans who are in action today include upcoming swimmers Anita Field and Emily Muteti who compete in 100m freestyle; Soraya Oruya in 50m backstroke and Hamdan Bayusuf of 50m backstroke.

The quartet of Sonia Cege, Oruya, Field and Muteti will then take to the pool to hunt for medal in 4 x 400m freestyle relay.

Compete with focus

Field told FeverPitch that she will compete in the event with focus on the 2016 Olympics.

“My dream is to feature in the nest Olympic Games and the African Championships is part of my training for the world event,” she said.

The hosts may not find it easy in the pool owing to the  presence of Olympians who clinched medals in London.

Such elite swimmers include double medalists Oussama Maluli of Tunisia who bagged gold and bronze in London and South African Mandy Loots who is continental champion.

Kenya head coach Mansoor Fakhr said: “Our swimmers understand very well that they will be competing against some of the best in the world and we’ve prepared them well- both mentally and physically- for the challenge.”

Young swimmers

Fakhr stated that the presence of Dunford has encouraged members of his team most of them who are home-based swimmers.

“Most of our swimmers are young and train at home but they are out to show their potential as Kenya Swimming Federation look forward to identify talent for the 2016 Olympics,” said Fakhr.

Kenya’s full team has: Sonia Cege who is aged 15, Anita Field (14), Emily Muteti (14), Ogot Akinyi (15), Martha Opiyo (14) and Suraya Oruya (17) for women.

Men’s squad has: Jason Dunford (25), Issa Abdallah (17), Micah Fernandez (14), Sahil Arunani (14), Edward Ilako (18), Abdulmajid Kedernani (17), Joshua Oruya (19), Tory Pragassa (15) and Rama Vyombo (28).

Local organising secretary Nasra Omar named South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritius, Algeria, Senegal, Egypt, Seychelles, Botswana and Uganda as some of the countries that have registered in the event.