Kyle Abeysinghe sole medal winner with 2 Silver
Sri Lanka Athletes would have returned home empty handed if not for the 2 Silver medals won by ace swimmer Kyle Abeysinghe at the 6th Commonwealth Youth Games concluded last Sunday in the Bahamas.
Abeysinghe became the first Sri Lankan to win a medal at any Commonwealth Games in Swimming. Abeysinghe won Silver in the 50m Freestyle event in 23.38 secs and in the 100m Freestyle event in 50.93 secs.
In the preliminary round of the 200m Freestyle event Abeysinghe finished 6th, thus failing to qualify for the final. Scottish Swimmer Alexander Scott won the Gold with a time of 23.10secs.
At this 6th edition of the CYG, Sri Lanka was represented by 27 Athletes in Boxing, Athletics, Judo, 7-a-side Rugby, Swimming and Tennis. In Rugby, Sri Lanka defeated host Bahamas 43-5 to finish in 5th spot. Samoa defeated England to win the Gold.
Of the 50 countries participating, Sri Lanka finished 22nd overall, mainly due to the 2 Silver won by Abeysinghe. England won the overall Championship with 17 Golds, with 29 other countries winning medals.
Of the 4 Sri Lanka Swimmers picked for the 17th FINA World Swimming Championships in Hungary now in progress, only 3 Swimmers, Cherantha De Silva, Kimiko Raheem and Ishani Senanayake participated, as Mathew Abeysinghe, the first Sri Lanka Swimmer to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics, pulled out due to injury. - LR