St. Joseph’s College and Visakha Vidyalaya ran away with the national age group titles in the men’s and women’s segments respectively after the 4th and final day of competition that was worked off at the Sugathadasa Swimming Pool Complex.
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The Age Group Championships which come hot on the heels of the Senior and Junior Nationals, pits the best of the best in Sri Lankan swimming against each other during four gruelling days of competition. The event, organised for the 43rd successive occasion by the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union, kicked off on the 1st of June at the Sugathadasa Swimming Pool, featuring over 300 swimmers representing schools as well as clubs.
Of the top performers, Ramudi Samarakoon, who was the top performer in the U18 category pushed Visakha Vidyalaya to the top of the table, bagging an impressive four medals in the Championship. She bagged her 4th medal of the Championship by winning the 100m Breaststroke with a time of 1:18.44.
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She was joined on a winning spree by Sirimavo Bandaranaike College’s Vinoli Kaluarachchi who won her 4th and 5th gold medals in the U18 100m Backstroke and 50m Freestyle with times of 1:10.51 & 29.16 respectively.
Among the boys, Dilanka Shehan continued his rich vein of form as he won yet another gold medal, this time in the 1500m freestyle at 17:55.29, as he took his total to five in the championship. Peterite sensation, Akalanka Peiris , also ended the meet with 5 golds, the last one being the 100m Backstroke which he won with a time of 59.87 seconds. Akalanka took home the best performance award for his age group while Dilanka, who dominated in the Over 18 category shared the spoils with Imesh Chathuranga of D.S. Senanayake College.
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Olympian Matthew Abeysinghe, whose reduced role meant he only competed in two events (100m & 50m freestyle) won both with times of 53.46 & 24.44 respectively.
The Lyceum Schools had a good day at the pool today, as among the 3 schools, they recorded in excess of 10 wins of the 33 events conducted on the day.
Photo Album : 43rd National Age Group Swimming Championship
Chris Pavithra of Lyceum Nugegoda in particular, shone on the day as he won both his events, clocking times of 28.99 and 1:24.94 in the U13 50 Metre and U13 100 Metre Breaststroke. In addition Thinaya Jayaratne of Lyceum Panadura also won both her events clocking in at 31.12 & 1:28.20 in the same events respectively.
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Hasan of Lyceum Wattala also bagged the gold in both his events he ran out with the U15 200m Breaststroke and 1500m freestyle events, comfortably beating his nearest competitors from Nalanda and Royal, respectively.
Other notable performances include A. Kalyanasundaram’s performance in the 1500 Freestyle as she dominated the pool yet again to go on to grab her third gold medal in two days, clocking a time of 20:27.99.
Come the end of day 4, Gampaha Swimming Association dominated the U10 category as K.U.O Onanga and A.D.U. Prabhashawara took the girls’ and boys’ best performance titles. In the U14 category, Nabashie Perera of Sirimavo and Vanuja Kannangara of Louvre International took their age group gong with 25 points apiece.
Kalyanasundaram and A. Hassan of Lyceum Wattala took home the respective girls’ and boys’ titles for the U16 age group. The boys’ title was shared with Alvin Arulmaran of Gateway College Colombo, who also scored 25 points.
Sri Lanka Army took one individual honour as I.E. Senanayake scored 25 points to emerge top of the pile of the Over 18 women’s category.
Come the end of the 4th and final day, Visakha Vidyalaya and St. Joseph’s College, Maradana hung onto the top spots which they held from the very first day itself. In the Women’s category the Visakhians managed to score 445.5 points, followed by Lyceum Wattala and Mahamaya College, who bagged 379 and 267 respectively.
In the men’s category, Ananda College, who are the up and coming force in the swimming arena, finished second with a points aggregate of 373 points. Lyceum International School Wattala took third place.
Final Points Table – Women
1. Visakha Vidyalaya – 445.5
2. Lyceum International School Wattala – 379
3. Mahamaya College Kandy – 267
4. Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya – 259
5. Musaeus College – 189
6. Lyceum International School Nugegoda -119
7. St. Bridget’s Convent – 104
8. Gampaha Swimming Association – 94
9. Gateway College Kandy – 90
10. Gateway College Colombo – 80
Final Points Table – Men
1. St. Joseph’s College – 442.5
2. Ananda College – 373
3. Lyceum International School Wattala – 284
4. Lyceum International School Nugegoda – 243.5
5. Nalanda College – 212
6. Sri Lanka Army – 172
7. Sri Lanka Navy – 159
8. D. S. Senanayake College – 158
9. St. Peter’s College – 153
10. Killer Whale Aquatics – 130
