POW, St Peter’s ‘B’, Nalanda M’goda, St Joseph’s Wattala in semis
Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union (SLASU) selected only 3 Swimmers for the short course FINA World Championships which ended today (Sunday) in Windsor ON, Canada. However, as Olympic Swimmer Matthew Abeysinghe was injured, only 2 Swimmers represented the country.
It is a big difference when compared with the previous World Championships in 2014, when Sri
Prince of Wales ‘B’ along with St Peter’s ‘B’, newcomers to school cricket Nalanda Boy’s School Minuwangoda and St Joseph’s Wattala advanced to the semi-final of the Under 13 Division Two cricket tournament by securing wins over Loyala College Kochchikade, Galahitiyawa Central, St Bernadette’s College Polgahawela, and Royal ‘B’ Colombo in the quarter-final matches played at Polgahawela, Reid Avenue, Bambalapitiya and Bopitiya.
Prince of Wales ‘B’ was steered by two top bowling performances by Mesith de Silva and Yasindu Imesh and an unbeaten ton by Omesh Mendis paved the way to record an easy first inning win over Loyala College.
Loyala College taking first lease of the wicket was bundled out for a pal- Lanka fielded 6 Swimmers in the short course world meet held in Doha, Qatar, where the world’s 968 top Swimmers took part.
Normally, FINA, the world governing body for Swimming, funds 3 Swimmers and SLASU, at that time, arranged for another 3 Swimmers for the 2014 World Championship.
The FINA World Swimming Championship (25 metres) is a bi-annual event that has grown significantly over the past 23 years, with every country increasing its participants to get try 65 with Mesith and Yasindu who together shared ten wickets doing the damage and Omesh’s ton helped Prince of Wales end the day on 150 for 1.
St Peter’s ‘B’ had an easy passage against Galahitiyawa Central at Bopitiya. St Peter’s ‘B’ after bowling out their opponents for 87 ended the day on 97 for 6.Nalanda Boy’s thanks to Nandun Herath who ended with a four wicket haul recorded an easy first inning win over St Bernadette’s at Polgahawela with Nalanda Boy’s taking first lease of the wicket making 139 for 8 and then bowling out their opponents for a low score of 67.
Reid Avenue St Joseph’s booked their berth by winning their match with a better run rate against Royal ‘B’ to gain a win on points. maximum exposure.
Since, Sri Lanka has a very good trend to build up strong swimmers, at a time that the country has already produced a direct entry for the last summer Olympics Games in Rio in Matthew Abeysinghe, who was first Sri Lankan swimmer to represent an Olympic Games on a direct entry.
Even for the Asian Swimming Championship held in Japan last month, SLASU did not field a Swimmer saying they are focusing on the World Championships.
But sadly, SLASU was unable to send at least a replacement for the injured Matthew Abeysinghe.
The 13th edition of the championships was staged in Windsor, attracting almost 1,000 of the world’s best swimmers from more than 172 countries, for 6 days of intense competition.
Killer Whale Aquatics' Kyle Abeysinghe gained much from a world class exposure. He proved it by breaking 2 National records in the men’s 200m Individual Medley on Wednesday and the 200m Freestyle on Thursday.
In the 200m Individual Medley, Kyle erased Sri Lanka Navy's Heshan Unamboowe’s record of 2:05.46, in 2012, by clocking 2: 04.17.
Kyle also broke Olympic Swimmer and elder brother Matthew Abeysinghe’s 200m Freestyle national record, clocking an amazing 1:50.15 to erase the 1:51.36 set two years ago.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Backstroke specialist, Kimiko Raheem, who took part in 6 events in all 3 Backstroke and Freestyle events, renewed her 200m Backstroke national record.