Matthew becomes first Lankan swimmer to finish 50m Backstroke in under 27 seconds:

Kimiko breaks 25-year-old record

by Sajeewa Jayakody

Killer Whale Aquatic’s Matthew Abeysinghe became the first Sri Lankan swimmer to finish 50m Backstroke under 27 seconds when he clocked 26.94 seconds breaking Olympian Heshan Unamboowe’s record of 27.23 set last year. Abeysinghe set this record at the National Aquatic Championship worked off at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Asian International School’s Kimiko Raheem broke the 25-year-old 200m Individual Medley record, which was previously established by country’s ace swimmer Deepika Chanmugam. Kimiko clocked 2:28.16 eclipsing Chanmugam’s 2:30.65 set up in 1989.

Raheem also renewed her 200m Backstroke timing of 2:22.65 with a new time of 2:25.13.

Sri Lanka Navy swimming team establshed a new national record in 400m Freestyle Relay final. The Navy team comprised Kanitha Munasinghe, Shehan de Silva, Rasitha Jayaratne and Shan Dias finished in 3:39.86 minutes breaking the previous record of 3:4475 set by Navy last year. The Killer Whale Aquatics too bettered the previous record clocking 3:43.16.

On day two, Kyle Abeysinghe of Killer Whale Aquatics establshed a new Junior National record in the under-15 200m Individual Medley event with a timing of 2:18.88 erasing the previous record of 2:20.98 set up this year.

Kyle did break the under-15 100m Butterfly record clocking 59.53 erasing the past record of 1:00.85 set this year.

Hirunu Perera of Harishchandra College Negombo gave a fine performance re-writing the Under-15 100m Butterfly record. Perera finished in 1:10.62 minutes breaking the previous record of 1:11.23 set this year.

Matthew Abeysinghe shattered his own 400m Individual Medley national record clocking 4:42.22. Abeysinghe previous timing was 4:47.06, which he set two years ago.

Abeysinghe also renewed his 100m Freestyle Sri Lanka record clocking 51.03. His previous timing was 50.86 seconds.

Meanwhile, on day two, Machiko Raheem of Killer Whale Aquatics broke her sister Mayumi’s 400m Individual Medley record. Mahiko finished in 5:21.77 minutes breaking Mayumi’s 5:23.18 set up in 2008.

Third day’s final results:

Boys

400m Freestyle Relay: 1 SLN 3:39.86 (Shan Dias/Kanitha Munasinghe/Rasith Jayaratne/Shehan de Silva), 2 KWA 3:43.16 (Matthew Abeysinghe/Dillon Abeysinghe/Kavin Weerasinghe/Kenneth Koththgoda), 3 RC 3:48.61 (Shehan Kaushalya/Chandula Fernando/Rahul Samarakoon/Pasindu de Silva)

100m Freestyle: 1 Matthew Abeysinghe 59.09 (KWA), 2 Chandula Fernando 1:01.26 (RC), 3 Shehan Kaushalya 1:03.51 (RC)

200m Freestyle: 1 Matthew Abeysinghe 1:59.27 (KWA), 2 Pasindu de Silva 1:59.87 (SLN), 3 Dilanka Shehan 2:03.79 (NC).

50m Butterfly: 1 Cherantha de Silva 25.68 (AC), 2 Kanitha Munasinghe 25.77 (SLN), 3 KP Manawadu 26.73 (SLN)

Under-15 200m freestyle: 1 Kavinda Nugawela 2:06.82 (KWA), 2 Joshua Jesuthasan 2:08.25 (KWA), 3 Gavin Karunanayake 2:11.00 (GIS)

Under-15 50m Butterfly: 1 Akalanka Peiris 26.81 (SPC), 2 Radush Sathasivam 28.21 (LISW), 3 Abdurrahman Hishan 28.26 (KWA).

Under-15 100m Backstroke: 1 Akalanka Peiris 1:06.39 (SPC), 2 Vihanga Perera 1:08.35 (GIS), 3 Kavindra Nugawela 1:08.87 (KWA)

Under-15 200m Freestyle Relay: 1 LISW 1:49.20 (Prithviraj Kalyanasunaram/Radush Sathasivam/Diluk Jayatilleke/Rakitha de Silva), 2 KWA 1:49.81 (Kavindra Nugawela/Joshua Jesuthasan/Pahan de Silva/Abdurrahman Hishan), 3 GIS 1:52.91 (Vihanga Perera/Rukshan Wijesinghe/Gavin Karunanayake/Stephan Perera).

Girls

400m Freestyle Relay: 1 MUE 4:30.13 (Himani Vithanage/Amanda Jayasekara/Avishi Samarasinghe/Ridmi Rankothge), 2 VV 4:33.05 (Shaleena Peiris/Sewwandi Perera/Yenushka Senanayake/Gihini Nawela), 3 SLN 4:39.93 (GS Amarasinghe/Aneeka Seneviratne/SA Wijeratne/MK Weeratunge)

100m Backstroke: 1 Kimiko Raheem 1:05.08 (AIS), 2 Dilekha Goonewardene 1:14.92 (LC), 3 Himani Vithanage 1:15.60 (MUE).

50m Butterfly: 1 Kimiko Raheem 30.54 (AIS), 2 GS Amarasinghe 30.84 (SLN), 3 Ridmi Rankothge 31.53 (MUE).