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By OSCAR PILIPILI
Kenya sensational athlete Jason Dunford will line-up against the globe’s best as FINA World Swimming Championships start in Dubai today.
The butterfly specialist will splash into the state-of-the-art Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex pool to claim a stake in men’s 100m butterfly heats, which will also feature upcoming Kiptolo Boit, who is based in South Africa.
Dunford is the most experienced swimmer in the 11-member Kenyan squad. He can as well be described at Kenya’s swimming luminary, having recorded a series of the country’s firsts at African Championships, Olympic and Commonwealth Games.
His latest achievement is a 50m butterfly gold at the last Commonwealth Games in New Delhi India and he is now eyeing World Championships glory together with his younger brother David.
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Boit is a newcomer to the global stage and he will use the Championship to gain international experience.
The 100m butterfly heats have attracted 94 competitors from across the world. The upcoming Saleh Sehar and Cege Sonia will be the first Kenyan women to dive into the pool when they compete in the women’s 50m-breaststroke event featuring 63 swimmers.
Talissa Lanoe and Sylvia Brunlehner will open the campaign, competing in the women’s 100m elimination rounds today.
Other Kenyans in the high profile championship are Hamdan Bayusuf, Soraya Oruya and Anham Salyani.
Meanwhile, swimmers have trained for the first time in the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex and the response has been positive, with the swimmers praising the standard and quality of the venue. The swimmers taking the honour of being first into the water were 800m freestyler Kristel Kobrich of Chile, along with Benjamin Hockin (200m free) and Charles Hockin (100m backstroke) of Paraguay.
With only one day to go until the start of the 10th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), and over 770 swimmers from over 148 countries arriving in Dubai over the next few days, the pool deck will be awash with the world’s best swimmers as they prepare for the competition.
Olympics 1,500m champion, Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia was also full of praise for the facility.
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