As of the 8th of February 2016, Sri Lanka ranks second in the medal table of the South Asian Games with eleven gold medals – eight of which have come from swimming disciplines.
Day two of the swimming events at the Dr. Zakir Hussain Aquatic Complex, Guwahati, India, saw the Sri Lankan swimmers win six medals in the seven events that were worked out.
In the Women’s 50m Free Style event, Machiko Raheem was 0.91 seconds behind her sister Kimiko Raheem who won the first gold for Sri Lanka for the day with timing of 26.49s.
Hasanthi Nugawela won silver and Ramudi Samarakoon won bronze in the Women’s 50m Breastroke event with timings of 35.69s and 35.99s respectively.
In the Men’s 50m Breastroke event, Kanitha Munasinghe finished fifth and Matthew Abeysinghe and Akalanka Peiris came in fourth and fifth in the Men’s 100m Backstroke event.
Ishani Senanayake won Silver in the women’s 800m Freestyle event clocking 9.48.62s.
Kimiko Raheem brought glory to her country once again in the Women’s 100m Backstroke event by coming in first with a timing of 01.03.78s. In the same event, Sri Lanka’s Vinoli Kaluaarachchi came in sixth.
Sri Lanka’s star swimmer Matthew Abeysinghe won his fifth gold for the country in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley completing his swim in 04.40.47s.
Special mention must be made of Kimiko Raheem and Matthew Abeysinghe who repeated and bettered the outstanding performances of their elder siblings, Mayumi Raheem and Andrew Abeysinghe at the SAG games ten years ago, with their consistently brilliant performances at this year’s games. Kimiko Raheem has won three gold medals and one silver while Matthew Abeysinghe displayed his prowess by winning five gold medals.
The performances of the Sri Lankan swimmers from 6th February – 8th February are as follows:
Women’s 50m Freestyle
Gold Medal – Kimiko Raheem
Silver Medal – Machiko Raheem
Women’s 50m Breast stroke
Silver Medal – Hasanthi Nugawela
Bronze Medal – Ramudi Samarakoon
Women’s 100m Backstroke
Gold Medal – Kimiko Raheem
Men’s 400m IM
Gold Medal – Matthew Abeysinghe
Women’s 800m Free Style
Silver Medal – Ishani Senanayake
Men’s 50m Freestyle
Gold Medal – Matthew Abeysinghe
Women’s 200m Backstroke
Gold Medal – Kimiko Raheem
Men’s 4x100m Free Style relay
Gold Medal – Sri Lankan team (KT. CHERANTHA DE SILVA, KYLE ABEYSINGH, SHEHAN DE SILVA, MATTHEW ABEYSINGHE)
Men’s 100m Butterfly
Gold Medal – Matthew Abeysinghe
Bronze Medal – Cherantha de Silva
Men’s 200m Freestyle
Gold Medal – Matthew Abeysinghe
Men’s 200m Back stroke
Silver Medal – Kavindra Nugaweha
Women’s 400m IM
Bronze Medal – JUI Silva
Women’s 4x100m Freestyle relay
Silver Medal – Sri Lankan team (KIMIKO RAHEEM, ISHANI ERANDIKA, SANDU SAVINDI, and MACHIKO RAHEEM)
Women’s 100m Butterfly
Silver Medal – KA Hiruni Perera
Bronze Medal – Machiko Raheem
Women’s 200m Breast stroke
Silver Medal – Hasanthi Nugawela
Women’s 200m Free Style
Silver Medal – Machiko Raheem
Bronze Medal – Ishani Senanayake
Men’s 200m Breast stroke
Silver Medal – Kiran Jayasinghe
