Royal divers emerge champions
Royal College diving team with officials
The Royal College diving team emerged champions in the 45th National Age Group Aquatic Championship held at the Sugathadasa Stadium and Royal College Colombo pools from August 15 to 17. The defending champions scored a mammoth 162 points followed by Thurstan College (37 points) and Otters Aquatic Club (30 points). The team was led by second year coloursman Abhisheka Meegolla with Nithila Illukpitiya as his deputy.
Royal collected their points across all the age groups. Matheesha Marambe (Under-16) and Thenuwan Meegalla (Under-14) won gold medals in 1-metre and 3-metre spring boards and 5-metre platform events to contribute 30 points each for Royal College while captain Abhisheka Meegolla won one gold (1-metre spring board) and two silver medals (3-metre spring board and 5-metre platform), contributing 24 points. Yusuf Shihar (Under-14) won three silver medals in 1-metre and 3-metre spring boards and 5-metre platform events and contributed 21 points to the overall tally.
In Under-12 junior category. Geesath Fernando and Mikhail Jayaweera won one gold and one silver medal each, contributing 15 points individually to the defending champions.
Seniru Rodrigo in Under-12 category won a silver medal while Revan Abhayaratne (Under-14), Nithila Illukpitiya (Under-19), Senitha Weerasekara (Under-14), and Induwara Gunawardhane (Under-16) won bronze medal each.
The team is coached by a former Royalist and Sri Lankan diving team captain Chanaka
Wickremesinghe, who had represented the country in both World Diving Championship in 1999 and 2002 held respectively in Czech Republic and Canada. The 2002 Royal Crown winner is an Asian Bronze Medalist at Asian Diving Championship in Chinese Taipei in 2000 and was the coach for the 21st Commonwealth Games held this year in Gold Coast.