Kenya's medal drought continued yesterday at World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates with only one silver medal won so far.
World T11 1,500mrecord holder (3:58.370 Samuel Mushai is the only medal winner in the games so far having won silver in the event.
Perhaps Kenyans can take solace in the fact that a few Kenyans have posted Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games' qualification marks since the event started four days ago.
However, Para-Athletics enthusiasts have started blaming the slow start on lack of training camp prior to the event. T11 1,500m silver medalist and world record holder (3:58.37) Samuel Mushai leads those who have hit the qualifying marks for Tokyo 2020. Others in Dubai include Henry Nzungi, Sylvia Olero, Stanley Misik and Wesley Sang.
Kenya National Paralympics Committee secretary-general, Elijah Mwndihi, said they remain hopeful that more athletes will finish in the medal bracket and meet the qualification mark too. “The participants are in high spirits and looking forward to better times here,” he said.
Henry Nzungi ran his personal best time of 11.79 seconds in the men's T12 100m yesterday and although he did not advance to the semis, he qualified for Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. He finished behind winner Marinho de Oliveira of Brazil (10.87) and Moroccan Ayoub Haimouda (11.30) both of whom qualified for the semis.
Olero finished eighth in the women's F44/64 discus throw after covering 25.58m to join other qualifiers for Tokyo Games.
Nelly Sile, an F55 athlete, recorded 14.60m in the F55/56 javelin throw to place 11th in the event won by Diana Dadzile of Latvia with a distance of 25.54m. Iranian Moraghian Hashemiyeh won silver with a distance of 22.67m while Brazilian Raissa Mochado was third (22.28m).
Meanwhile, Samson Ojuka fell off the T37 100m title contention after finishing sixth in his heat. He timed 12.39 for his best time ever. Vincent Kiprono tallied eighth in the T46/47 long jump finals that attracted 18 contenders.
