Dunford claims another medal

By Ernest Ndunda

African champion Jason Dunford claimed another silver medal to raise his tally to four as the 10th Africa Senior Swimming Championships came to an end in Casablanca, Morocco, yesterday.

Jason, who used the championships to prepare for next month’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, has won two gold and two silver medals. On Friday evening, he was beaten to the second spot by South Africa’s Darren Murray in the 100m backstroke.

Murray timed 57.12 seconds, while Jason came second to win silver in 59.26 seconds. Khaled Hussein of Egypt claimed bronze after clocking 59.27. Another Kenyan, Akshay Shah, came 11th in a time of 1.07.01.

In women’s 50m freestyle, Kenya’s Sylvia Brunlehner came 12th in a time of 28.55 seconds, while Salyani Anham finished 16th in a time of 31.37 seconds.

Karin Prinsloo of South Africa won the race in a time of 26.15 seconds. Silver and bronze medals went to South Africa’s Van Chanelle and Farida Osman of Egypt, who timed 26.70 and 26.99.

At the same time, Kenya missed a medal by a whisker in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay as local swimmers were beaten at the finish line by Egyptians to deny them bronze.

Kenyan team of Jason Dunford, Ramadhan Vyombo, David Dunford and Akshay Shah finished fourth in 3:30.12.

South African African swimmers won the race, followed by Algeria and Egypt. In 400m freestyle, Kenya’s Ahmed Abdulmajid came eighth in 4:51.95, while in the women’s 100m butterfly race, Kenya’s Anham Salyani came 13th in 1:16.99.