Namibia’s South African connection poses a challenge to Sri Lanka – The Island

After a two-year Covid-induced hiatus, Killer Whale Aquatics, a stalwart of absolute Sri Lankan swimming dominance, faced their first defeat since 2015 at the recently concluded 2022 LC National and Junior Aquatic Championships. This year’s champion in the men’s category, the seasoned and well-experienced SL Army Aquatics, won the title by just 12 points, highlighting a fierce battle between the two teams that served as a reminder at the time of the intense rivalry between SL Navy Aquatics and KWA who spearheaded the rapid growth of Sri Lankan swimming in the early 2010s. This championship ended a seven-year reign with five consecutive national titles for KWA, and even s ‘they certainly won’t be satisfied with this defeat, the result was not without merit.

Due to the shutdown of regular Sri Lankan swimming activities for the past two years, the team competing for the KWA was remarkably young, made up mostly of people with little or no senior national level experience. Returning to some semblance of normalcy within the swimming community has been a painstaking process, but despite the extreme hardship experienced by all athletes across the country over the past few years, the results of this year’s National Long Course Championships are simply encouraging. sign of progress.

A total of five new national and national junior records were set by KWA. In the men’s 800m freestyle, Anusara Abeygunawardane, the current KWA men’s captain, bettered his own national record by almost five seconds, finishing with an incredible time of 8:49.80. He also became the newest member of the “under 2 minute club” in the 200m freestyle, a feat that would have put him in extremely rare air (or more accurately, rare water) less than ten years. Abeygunawardane is the unassuming product of KWA’s Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model; proving, once again, that an investment of patience in the early stages of an athlete’s journey is crucial to their long-term success and will pay huge dividends as they age.

Adeetha Siriwardena, young and prodigious member of KWA, broke two national junior records. One came in the men’s 50m backstroke with a time of 29.23 seconds, erasing an eight-year record set by current Sri Lankan national record holder Akalanka Pieris in 2014. Adeetha was in the men’s 100 backstroke, breaking Shevinda De Silva’s (St. Joseph’s College) six-year-old record slipped nearly two seconds, finishing in a blistering time of 1:04.06. Subsequently, to honor her achievements, Adeetha received a full athletic scholarship from her school, Wesley College Colombo, a gracious act that is to be commended in this time of financial uncertainty.

Ramudi Samarakoon, a member of KWA since its inception in 2010, where she began her journey in KWA’s Learn-To-Swim program, Swim America, broke Mineka Karunaratne’s 14-year record in the women’s 100m breaststroke by a margin very narrow, finishing with a time of 1:14.54. Samarakoon, a former KWA women’s captain, has been one of Sri Lanka’s most successful athletes in the pool since 2016. It was her first personal best in more than six years, a triumph over personal tribulations and a story of perseverance and determination. In quite an admirable effort, she also led the KWA women’s team to second place this year; a team of four young women, vastly outnumbered and outgunned by this year’s women’s championship winners, Visakha Vidyalaya. In the 4x50m medley relay, Samarakoon led her teammates (Akithmi Wasalathanthri, Minuri Bartholamuse and Anithra Johnpillai) to victory, breaking KWA’s fifth and final national record at this year’s LC Nationals, with a time of 2: 10.24.

Aside from the unique success that Anusara, Adeetha and Ramudi shared, the rest of the KWA swimmers, whether they represent school or club, finished their seasons with almost all having recorded the best times in each of their trials. It is both a testament to the courage of these swimmers and the fruit of the hard work of the KWA coaching staff, led by Manoj Abeysinghe. In these difficult circumstances, the performances of these athletes are remarkable. One can only look to the future and wonder what these young champions still have in store.