We can forge ahead in Swimming- SLAU Sec.
Sri Lanka Aquatic Union (SLAU) Secretary, Migara Gunatilleke asserted that Sri Lanka (SL) can forge ahead in Swimming.
“This has been displayed at the South Asian Games (SAG), past as well as present. We possess talented Swimmers who can take SL ahead at the SAG. Unfortunately, these Swimmers have the habit of leaving the sport after their A/Ls. Because of this, our Swimmers cannot forge ahead. This is a big hindrance for this island nation.”
“It has been noted that Swimmers in a leading county such as the United States of America hit their peak around age 25-26 years, when they bag medals at the Olympics and World Championships.”
“Our Swimmers have have normally given up when they reach these age groups.”
Migara Gunatilleke entered the Swimming administration recently. He is an Old Josephian and a school level and national level swimmer. He is an electronic and electrical engineer by profession. He was the Captain of the St. Joseph’s Swim team.
“Our Swimmers do their utmost at school level. They take part in Olympic and international swim meets at age 19, competing with Swimmers of age 25-26 years, when it is difficult to be triumphant.
“Our leading Swimmers are Kimiko Raheem and Mathew Abeysinghe. They took part in the Rio Olympics at a comparatively young age. These two Swimmers have the ability to take part in at least two more Olympics. But, when they reach the ages of the successful American Swimmers, they are bound to lose their skills. This is the main reason why SL Swimmers have failed. I have noticed this from my personal investigations.
“The SLAU intends to develop the quality of Swimmers this season.It is not thinking too far ahead. The best example is the 2016 SAG. There was a discussion with the Sports Ministry as to what events could bring medals.
“Other sports were hopeful of winning several medals. But the SLAU maintained that we could bring in about 5 medals. If we had agreed to what the others said, we could have won the SAG outright.
“We won 12 Gold, 16 Silver and 11 Bronze. Total 39 medals. We who kept the flag flying at the SAG. Mathew Abeysinghe bagged 7 Gold and Kimiko Rahim won 5 Gold. It was in Swimming that SL did best after Athletics, which brought 9 Gold, 11 Silver and 17 Bronze. Total 37 medals.
“It is registered that, there are about 4,000 Swimmers in SL at school and club level. Swimming mainly takes place in Kandy and Colombo. Other than these two cities, Swimming also takes place in Ambalangoda, Negombo, Gampaha, Kurunegala and a few towns.
Migara Gunatilleke
“There are about 300 to 400 Swimming coaches. Plans are afoot to grade these coaches this year.
“There are 4 main Swimming championships this year. They are: Asian Age Group Championships, Commonwealth Youth Games, FINA Junior Championships and FINA World Championships.”
“There is no necessity for a foreign coach as our local coaches are very knowledgeable.”
“We should improve the techniques of our coaches and Swimmers. We intend bringing a foreign coach from England- James Richard- for a month, to train our coaches and Swimmers. The expenses for the coach is being borne by FINA.”
“James Richard is a good junior level club coach, and we expect to improve our Swimmers personal timings.”
“We have no AGM and elections this year. Our main target is to improve the sport. We are surging ahead as planned,” concluded Migara Gunatilleke.