NAIROBI, Kenya, July 24 – Jason Dunford kicked-off his title defence on a positive note after finishing second in heat 6 to qualify for the semi-finals of the 50m Butterfly as Commonwealth Games pool action got underway Thursday in Glasgow, Scotland.
Dunford, 27, posted 23.76 seconds to finish behind England’s Benjamin Proud to safely navigate through the first hurdle while Jayden Hadler from Australia in third joined them.
Compatriot Issa Hemed also qualified for Thursday night’s semis after finishing third in heat 4, recording a time of 26.00 with Northern Ireland’s Conor Munn and Meli Malani from Fiji occupying the first two places.
Dunford and Hemed who are also participating in 100m Butterfly as well as Freestyle will be hoping to make it to Friday’s 50m Butterfly finals.
In the men’s squash singles round of 128, Kenya’s Hartas Bains beat Daniel Murphy from Cayman Island by straight sets of 11-7, 11-4 and 11-6 while Violet Luchendo lost by a similar score line to Sarah Tylor of Jersey in the women’s category.
Kenya are yet to win a match in Badminton after losing 2-3 to Uganda in the mixed team as India top Group B after a 5-0 win over Ghana.
They must beat Ghana in their next match in order to keep their hopes of progressing to the next round alive.
The Judo men’s 66kg preliminary round saw Anthony Kivuti lose to Asa Weithers from Barbados while Hanifa Said did not finish in the women’s Triathlon final as England’s Jodie Stimpson won gold in a time of 1:58:56.
The competition enters day 2 Friday with boxing flyweight silver medallist Benson Gicharu entering the ring for the round of 32 while Rayton Okwiri will be up in the welterweight category.
Other events that will see Kenya compete are Judo men’s 73kg where Isaac Mbugua will battle it out against Kinsley Vui from Papua New Guinea.
In shooting Guy Douglas will seek to qualify in the skeet while Kenya will face India in their final preliminary match in Badminton.
