Kenya's Commonwealth swimming team set for 2014 Commonwealth Games

Kenya's most accomplished swimmer Jason Dunford will lead the country's swimming team in the hunt for medals in the 2014 Commonwealth Games set for 23 July to August 3 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Dunford won the country's first Commonwealth swimming medal in the 2010 Delhi games and will be seeking abbetter performance as he eyes the 2016 Rio Olympics.

In an earlier interview with Game Yetu Dunford said that Kenyan swimmers had come off age and the country should expect more medals in major world events. He also said that competing in Glasgow will give him an opportunity to gauge himself as he looks forward to the Rio Olympics.

He will lead a team of 11 swimmers six men and six women in a quest for medals at the quadrennial event. Micah Fernandes, Hamdan Bayusuf, Tony Pragassa, Issa Abdalla and Kimani Maina together with Dunford make the men's team.

The women's team suffered a major setback as the 2013 Sports Personality of the Year Award (Soya) winner in the Most Promising Sports Personality category Emily Muteti will not travel with the team due to illness.

However, Martha Opiyo, Talissa Lanoe, Sylivia Brunlenher, Anita Fields, Danielle Awori and Rebecca Kamau will fly high the Kenyan flag in Glasgow. Opiyo is very optimistic that she and the entire team will do well and make Kenya proud.

"It is a great honour to represent my country, I will give it my best to improve my personal best times and also win medals," she said. Opiyo currently holds several girls national records.

Lanoe who admires Dunford and whose dream is to match her role models achievements will have an opportunity to win medals in this event. She has been intensely training at the Atlantic Florida University in the US.

National team Coach Abdulmalik Abdulkarim said the team was good and the best the country has ever had. "This team comprises of the best swimmers the country has ever produced, they are committed to training and am confident they will excel," he said.

The swimmers are currently training in Nairobi and Mombasa while foreign based players train with their respective swim clubs and will meet the local based swimmers in Glasgow before the competition.

Coach Abdulkarim said the team training in different places was no issue as swimming was more of an individual sport.

Abdulkarim also said that Muteti's illness was a setback to her as a swimmer and the entire team. "Muteti was a medal prospect and she was also on a mission to qualify for the Nanjing Youth Olympics but the illness has hindered her from travelling with the team," he added.

Muteti had already qualified for the youth Olympics in the 50m freestyle in the Africa Youth games held in Botswana and was seeking to seize the opportunity and qualify for more events.

Nonetheless Abdulkarim was confident that the remaining team was equally up to task as the swimming standards in the country had improved. "The swimming standards in the country have gone up and our swimmers are doing well Kenyans should expect good performance in Glasgow."