Commonwealth Games 2018 swimming squad named

By Shamseer Jaleel 

Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union named a six-member squad for the Commonwealth Games 2018 which will take place in Gold Coast, Australia from 4th to 15th April. The squad has some talented swimmers who can be expected to get through the qualifying rounds. Matthew Abeysinghe, Cherantha De Silva, Kyle Abeysinghe and Akalanka Pieris are to represent Sri Lanka in the Men’s category, while Kimiko Raheem and Vinoli Kaluarachchi are in the Women’s category of the squad selected to win medals for Sri Lanka.

Matthew Abeysinghe secured 9th place in the overall ranking of 100 metre men’s freestyle and finished 18th overall in the 200m freestyle event which took place at 2017 Winter National Championships in Ohio, USA and qualified for the respective events. Cherantha De Silva did well at the Sri Lankan National Championship taking 2nd place while taking 1st place at the Singapore Nationals, breaking a Singaporean national record, which made him a claimant for a position at the Commonwealth Games in Australia in two months time.