Rebecca Adlington included in England’s Commonwealth Games squad

Rebecca Adlington, the double Olympic champion, and Liam Tancock and Gemma Spofforth, the world champions, head a list of 29 swimmers selected today to race for England at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi from October 3 to 14.

With 13 places still up for grabs at two trials in August, the bulk of medal hopes are confirmed for battle against Canada, Australia and South Africa, the nations that offer the main challenge in Commonwealth waters.

The rest of the England swimming team will be selected after the European Championships, to be held in Budapest from August 4 to 15, and the British Gas ASA National Championships, from August 18 to 21 in Sunderland. Included in the England squad are Simon Burnett and Ross Davenport, the defending champions over 100m and 200m freestyle respectively.

Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, the national 50m and 100m breaststroke champion, is confirmed as the first black woman to earn selection for England in the race pool. Her mother, Helen, is English and her father, Professsor Rok Ajulu, one of Africa’s leading politics professors, is Kenyan. The Kenyan Olympic Committee last week let it be known that Ajulu-Bushell was free to seek selection for Britain at the London 2012 Olympic Games after having competed for Kenya for three years until August 1 last year.

Joanne Jackson, Olympic bronze and world silver and bronze medal-winner, was forced to withdraw from the 400m freestyle final at trials three weeks ago after suffering an asthma attack in morning heats. Jackson has a “severe and brittle” form of asthma and is waiting to hear whether the Yorkshire Primary Care Trust will approve a prescription for Xolair, a non-steroidal treatment that can cost up to £8,000 a year and cannot be prescribed by the NHS without special permission.

The England team:

Women: Rebecca Adlington; Achieng Ajulu-Bushell; Ellen Gandy; Francesca Halsall; Joanne Jackson; Sasha Matthews; Keri-Anne Payne; Elizabeth Simmonds; Amy Smith; Gemma Spofforth; Jessica Sylvester; Stacey Tadd; Rebecca Turner; Aimee Willmott; Katherine Wyld

Men: Robert Bale; Adam Brown; Simon Burnett; Ross Davenport; Daniel Fogg; James Goddard; Thomas Parris; Roberto Pavoni; Michael Rock; Joseph Roebuck; Liam Tancock; Grant Turner; Christopher Walker-Hebborn; Richard Webb.