Chamodhi – a lass with great potential
View(s):16 year-old swimmer Chamodhi De Fonseka from Lyceum International School, Wattala who is under the watchful eye of the legendary three times Olympian, Deshabandu Julian Bolling at the Rainbow Aquatics Colombo had come out with remarkable performances recently.
A stunning performance was shown by Chamodhi at the Sri Lanka Schools Swimming Championships where she bettered one of the oldest records held by Renuka Ranasinghe when she clocked 5 minutes and 4 seconds in the 400m metre free style event.
This young swimmer was selected to represent Sri Lanka at the FINA World Swimming Championships 2014 held in Doha, Qatar held in December. She qualified for the meet by achieving the top three FINA points in Sri Lanka in the 100m Freestyle where she clocked a timing of 1m and 4secs.She was recognised by her school as the first swimmer to participate in an international swimming meet.
Chamodhi captained her school and led from the front to victory in the recently concluded Inter International Schools Swimming Championships 2014 with a margin of close to 120 points where she won 3 Gold Medals in her individual events and also 3 Golds and Silver in the age group relays and in Open Mix Relays. Chamodhi also won 2 Silvers and 2 Bronze medals at the Senior Aquatic Championships.
She trains 6 times a week which include a total number of 8 sessions under the former swimming legend Bolling. She had been a part of the Rainbow Aquatics since 2008 and has shown a huge amount of commitment throughout. She had managed to perform at her highest amidst all obstacles, even when she has to travel 3 hours a day from home to the pool and to school and back home as she lives in Wennappuwa.Chamodhi had been consistent in her performance throughout and is showing great potential to be a promising swimmer to Sri Lanka.
Lakshman Ranasinghe