Royalist Sulaiman sets two new swimming records at All Island School Games

Sulaiman Shihar

Sulaiman Shihar from Royal College Colombo established two new records in the Under-14 age group at the All-Island School Games Swimming Championship 2023 concluded at Sugathadasa Swimming Pool on Monday.

The 13-year-old swimmer broke the records in 50-metre and 100-metre backstroke within two successive days.

Suliaman clocked a new record time of 31.14 seconds on Sunday in the 50-metre backstroke, breaking the previous record of Mihith Eknaligoda from Ananda College. Eknaligoda timed 31.39 seconds last year.

He also established a new record time of 1:07.38 on Monday in the 100-metre backstroke, overcoming the previous record of 1:08.73 set by Vanuja Kannangara from St. Joseph College, Colombo in 2018.  

Sulaiman is trained by two Royal College coaches – former national swimmer Kingsly Bandula and multiple swimming record holder Kanitha Munasinghe.