Lyceum International School Wattala clinched the 24th Inter-International Schools Swimming Championship (IISSC) with a whopping 67 medals in total. The meet was carried out on the 10th and 11th November at the Sugathadasa Indoor Swimming Complex.
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The IISSC is the premier swimming event for the students of International schools and this year, over 1000 swimmers from 18 schools participated in the two-day course. The event is organized by Asian International School (AIS) and sponsored by Milo.
The Lyceum International athletes stood out this year, winning 143 medals in total between the LIS institutions. Of them, Lyceum International Wattala took home the most, 67 medals, which included 25 Gold, 21 Silver and 21 Bronze medals.
Damiru Wickramathunga of Lyceum Int. Wattala established two new meet records in the Boys’ U11 200 Individual Medley and the 50m Breaststroke events. Wickramathunga clocked 2:50.82 minutes in the medley, surpassing the previous record by 3 seconds. His timing of 37.93 seconds in the Breaststroke was sufficient to overtake the previous record set back in 2015.
Damiru bagged his third Gold medal of the meet in the Boys’ 100m Freestyle with a final time of 1:08.73 minutes. Schoolmate, Shazna Mahir renewed the Girls’ U16 50m Breaststroke record with a time of 37.34 seconds. She also won Gold in the 200m IM and secured second place in the 100m Breaststroke.
Daeva Rasmi, also of Lyceum Wattala, established two records and one 1st place finish in the Girls’ U16 category. Her winnings came in the 50m Fly, 100m Fly and 100m Back with the former 2 being new meet records.
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Janidu Gangahagedara of Lyceum International School Nugegoda set a meet record for himself in the Boys’ U14 200m Individual Medley with a time of 2:32.90 minutes. He also won first place in the Boys’ 100m Butterfly and a Silver in the 50m Butterfly.
The last of the Abeysinghe clan, Kyle Abeysinghe also grabbed 3 Gold medals for Wycherly International School in the Boys’ U20, 50m and 100m Freestyle as well as the 200m Individual Medley. His time of 2:17.13 minutes in the Medley, earned a new meet record in the event.
Another from Wycherly, Haren Nuwela surpassed Olympian Matthew Abeysinghe’s Boys’ U20 50m Backstroke record of 28.69sec with a stunning time of 25.51seconds. He also took home Gold in the 200m Freestyle and the 100m Backstroke events.
Thinaya Jayarathne of Lyceum International School Panadura grabbed 3 Gold medals in the Girls’ U14 200m IM, 50m Breaststroke and 100m Breaststroke making her one of the standout performers in this year’s meet.
Akithmi Wasalathanthri of Lyceum Int. Wattala performed tremendously in the Girls’ 14 category with two new meet records and a Silver medal finish. Her records came in the 50m Back (33.80sec) and the 100m Back (1:16.45min) while her second-place finish of 1:06.17 min was from the 100m Freestyle event.
Click here for final results of IISSC 2018
With 3 records in her events, Hiruki De Silva of Gateway College Colombo put on a marvelous show. She renewed records in the Girls’ U14 100m Freestyle (1:04.62min), 100m Butterfly (1:10.39min) and the 200m Freestyle (2:24.39min).
Nisha Nilaweera, competing in the same age group, took home a record breaking gold medal and 2 Bronze at the end of her stint. A record timing of 29.76 seconds barely made the mark of the previous record in the 50m Free but did the trick anyway. Her Bronze medals came in the 50m Breast and Butterfly events.
Bhakthi Karunasena of Colombo International School also set a record in the girls’ U16 100m Freestyle clocking 1:04.40min, and claimed two other Gold medals in the 200 Free (2:29.97min) and 50m Free (29.92sec).
Binura Thalagala of Luceum Nugegoda took home Gold, Silver and Bronze in the Boys’ U12 50m Back, 200m IM and 100m Freestyle respectively. His timings in the 50m Back and 200m IM were enough to set new meet records.
Lyceum International School Wattala bagged vital points through their relay team who managed to secure 1st place in 7 relays, out of which 4 were in record time. The Girls’ U12, U14, U16 Medley Relays and the U14 50m Freestyle Relay were Lyceum’s record breaking events.
Click here for Records from IISSC 2018
IISSC 2018 Final Medal Count
| Team | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| Lyceum Int. School Wattala | 25 | 21 | 21 | 67 |
| Gateway College Colombo | 18 | 19 | 11 | 48 |
| Lyceum Int. School Nugegoda | 18 | 14 | 12 | 44 |
| Lyceum Int. School Panadura | 12 | 6 | 6 | 24 |
| Colombo International School | 6 | 5 | 4 | 15 |
| Wycherly International School | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| British School in Colombo | 4 | 7 | 9 | 20 |
| Royal Institute | 4 | 5 | 5 | 14 |
| Asian International School | 3 | 10 | 12 | 25 |
| Overseas School of Colombo | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Lyceum Int. School Ratnapura | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| Leeds International School | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Stafford International School | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| Regent International School | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Elizabeth Moir School | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Gateway College, Kandy | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| St. Nicholas’ Int. College | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Colombo Int. School Kandy | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
