It was a day on which the action in the pool was high octane and the feeling in the spectator stands reached fever pitched as one of Sri Lanka’s most illustrious swimmers Matthew Abeysinghe called it a day swimming his last race at home and his club Killer Whale Aquatics (KWA) won both the Senior Men’s and Women’s titles at the Long Course National Swimming Championship at the Sugathadasa Stadium Swimming Pool Complex last Sunday.
St Joseph’s College and Lyceum International School Gampaha claimed the Junior Boys’ and Girls’ National Championships, respectively.
Abeysinghe, a double Olympian and South Asia’s most decorated swimmer, secured five gold medals in his farewell national championship, becoming the Joint Senior Men’s National Champion alongside MF Muhammad of Zahira College, who also won five gold medals.
In the Women’s Senior category, Hiruki de Silva of KWA was the National Champion and AIM Haathim of St Peter’s College was crowned the Junior Boys’ National Champion. Haathim won four gold medals and one silver medal, setting two new Junior National records. He narrowly edged out Derwin Malawara Arachchi of S. Thomas’ College, who also won four gold medals and one silver medal.
Haathim’s record-breaking performances gave him an additional four points, finishing with 27 points to Arachchi’s 25.
Julie Hope of Cyclone Swimming Academy in Dubai dominated the Junior Girls’ category, winning five gold medals and setting one new Junior National record in the 100m Freestyle.
Haathim broke two new Junior National records in 100m Breaststroke and 400m IM and bettered the previous record in 200m IM. Akash Deeshana of CSA set a new Junior National record in the boys’ 200m Breaststroke, Rushalee Dissanayake of Musaeus College in the girls’ 1500m freestyle and Julie Hope in the girls’ 100m freestyle also set new Junior National records.
Lyceum girls and St Joseph’s boys also broke two relay records. The Joes’ junior 4x100m Medley relay team set a new record, as did the Lyceum girls’ team in the 4x100m Medley Relay.
In the Senior category, Ramudi Samarakoon of KWA set the only Senior National record in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke final.
The championship not only highlighted the end of an era with Abeysinghe’s retirement from local championships but also the emergence of new talents in 15-year-old MF Muhammad, Haathim, Hope and Dissanayake.
28-11
