Sri Lanka’s teen-aged swimming sensation Heshan Bandara Unamboowe shares his success story on Prime TV’s “Celeb Chat” at 9.30 pm on Monday 27 September.
The 18 year old Trinitian captained the Sri Lankan contingent at the first-ever Summer Youth Olympic Games 2010 in Singapore last month and went on to establish a new National Record in his pet 50m backstroke event. He also captained the Sri Lankan swimming team at the 11th South Asian Games 2010 in Bangladesh and won a total of 5 medals including a new South Asian Games Record with a Gold in the 100m backstroke event.
Unamboowe goes on record as being one of the youngest Trinitians ever, to be awarded the prestigious “Trinity Lion” Award for Swimming at his Alma Mater in Kandy.
Listen to him talk about the vigorous training he has to undergo as a swimmer while balancing studies in between. Up at 4am everyday and plunging into the cold Kandy waters … school … studies … lunch … more studies (tuition) … and bed at 10.00pm.
He talks gratefully about the tremendous support he gets from schoolmates and teachers who help him with notes, whenever he misses school for long spells while representing Sri Lanka overseas.
Left-handed Heshan will share with you the trials of being a swimmer and having to “live a life with chlorine … the swimmer’s inescapable perfume”. With the Advanced Level exam next year, he has also firmly set his sights on the 2012 Olympics.
What would he do if he took off the diving board and found an empty pool below with no water ? Spending a greater part of his life in the water, what would his reaction be if he sprouted a merman’s tail on day ? He takes it all in his stride !
All this and lots more as host Kumar de Silva chats to Heshan Bandara Unamboowe on Prime TV’s “Celeb Chat” at 9.30 pm on Monday 27 September 2010.
REPEATS : Tuesday 28 September at 3.00 AM, 11.00 AM and 8.00 PM |
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