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Lanka's teen mermaid wants to do more for her country

Chris DHAMBARAGE

SWIMMING: It was by accident that she took to swimming few years ago at her parents' request. After some time she grew up and turned out to be a champion swimmer while bringing honour and pride to her motherland.

Fourteen-year-old Mayumi Raheem was no doubt the cynosure of all eyes as she bagged a total of 10 medals including three gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the 10th South Asian Games swimming meet which concluded recently.

The teenage swimming sensation paid tribute to her parents Ramzi and Ranjika for helping her to achieve greater success by providing all the encouragement and support throughout her career.

Mayumi first took to swimming at the Otters Aquatic Club pool and later represented her school Musaeus College, Colombo.

Her achievement is only second to the performance of Deepika Chanmugam who bagged seven gold medals at the 1991 South Asian Games held in Colombo.

Mayumi said that she is delighted to win three medals for her country and to perform that task in front of her fans is another proud moment for her.

This was of course not the first time that Mayumi had made her country proud as she has been in the limelight during the past few years.

The Singapore based swimmer had the honour of carrying The Queen's Commonwealth Relay Baton when it arrived in Singapore after a ceremony held at the school.

Mayumi who is an outstanding swimmer in Singapore as well, was selected by her school - The United World College of South East Asia in which she is an outstanding sportswoman having represented the school at Netball and Rugby.

She said it is her ambition and dream to represent Sri Lanka at every given opportunity and make her country proud at every meet she takes part in and represents her motherland.

Mayumi also went on a record breaking spree both at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and at the 8th FINA Short Course World Championships held in Shanghai, China.

Out of six individual events that Mayumi competed at the Commonwealth Games, she broke four Sri Lanka and National Records.

Although she missed breaking her own 100m breast stroke record by a few micro seconds, she set new records in the 50m Butterfly by setting a new time of 00:31.67s, in the 50m Breast Stroke by breaking her own record and returning a time of 00:35.40s.

She secured a place in the semi-finals at the Games, the 50m Free Style by setting a new mark of 00:29.22s and in the 200m Breast stroke she broke an 18-year-old record set by Deepika Chanmugam by clocking 02:48.15s, shaving off more than 3.5 seconds from the previous record.

Table Tennis: Devananda teen turns the tables

Sanjaya ARIYARATNE

TABLE TENNIS: Ishara Madurangi, the youngest paddler in Sri Lanka's National team, proved Sri Lankan table tennis can reach International standard with a fine display to bring honour and fame to the country at the South Asian Games.

Ishara, 16, is a product of Devananda College, Ambalangoda. All smiles, she said she started playing table tennis at the age of eight.

"I was involved in table tennis as my brother was a table tennis player who is also from Devananda College", she said. After following her brother Lahiru Dharshika's footsteps, Ishara achieved the top and made her family, school and the country proud.

Ishara is being trained by A.W. Anuralal who is the table tennis coach of her school.

"He helped me to improve my table tennis techniques. Winning the under 7 Southern Province table tennis championship held in Ambalangoda in 1999, paved the way for me to reach the top", she said.

Ishara is the only player who qualified for the Asian Table Tennis team at the South Asian Junior Table Tennis championship held in India in 2004 where she brought a medal for the first time to Sri Lanka.

As she excelled in table tennis, she was offered a scholarship from the International Table Tennis Federation where she had the opportunity to attend a training session and to take part in the SAFIR International Table Tennis tourney in Sweden.

In 1998 she clinched the All Island under 9 Table Tennis Championship. In 2004, Ishara became the women's National champion of Sri Lanka. She was a member of the 10th South Asian Games Table Tennis pool worked off in Sri Lanka recently.

Ishara has also participated in several overseas tournaments and brought honour to Sri Lanka.

She participated in the South Asian Junior Table Tennis championship in 2005 and 2006 in India, Commonwealth Games 2004 in Malaysia, Commonwealth Games 2006 in Australia, Asian Junior Championship 2006 in Japan and World Junior Circuit 2005 in China. She left for China on Monday to participate in the World Junior Circuit 2006.

"Most people thought that Sri Lankan paddlers will never win more than a bronze medal at an Asian championship. But this time we had a stiff game with India and clinched the silver medal," she said. She also lamented that there is no permanent sponsor for table tennis.

Favourite Colour - White

Favourite food - Chocolate

Favourite drink - Coca Cola

Favourite TT player - Pimp Boll of Germany

Problems discussed, solutions found

Ruwanthi ABEYAKOON

STANDING in the calm surrounding there was no sign of life at `Subodhi', a retreat centre in Piliyandala. The river flowing behind the buildings added beauty to that serenity. As I followed the two teenagers the calmness was absorbed by the laughter and noise from the dining room. Here I met a number of teenagers gathered to discuss serious problems that affect their lives. Delegates from several South Asian countries also participated to share their thoughts.

This was organised by the International Young Catholic Students (IYCS) together with Young Catholic Societies (YCS) in Sri Lanka.

This time their focus was on student poverty, dialogue and HIV positive. They not only discussed these problems but also searched solutions that can be put into action.They had seminars, discussions and activities mixed with fun.

Shehani Samaratunga and Surani Samaraweera were the event's local organisers. "We are happy to participate in this programme. We had to organise the whole programme. There were many things to do such as fund collecting and searching for accommodation. But we enjoyed working together and it was a lot of fun," they said.

Meenuka Amaratunga, the Asian Coordinator said this function takes place once in three years. "When we meet we evaluate the past three years and discuss what should be our focus this year. We use media as a tool.

We are planning to make television shows on these problems to draw the authorities' attention. There will be follow up programmes too," she explained.

"This is a lovely experience. We met new friends. This seminar changed our lives.It gave us a chance to recollect ourselves.It is unforgettable.

We prepared an action plan to be carried out in rural areas," said Jayani Perera, 18, Binoli Barsenbach, 17, and Ishara Anupama, 16. They also added that they shared gifts with each other.

Janice Peiris,18, had a wonderful experience attending this seminar.She said that it was a dream come true.

"I was looking forward for this. My intention was to go up higher. Through this I got a lot of knowledge and a very good experience. We were like a family. I enjoyed a lot.This is a great opportunity," she said.

Some of the international delegates joined in to express their feelings and experience. Manoj Mathew, Secretary General of IYCS said youth possess a rich capability of approaching the problems.

"They are really concerned and energetic.They appreciate all the cultures and are open in sharing their thoughts and views," he said.

John Britto from Nepal said he admires the Sri Lankans' friendliness.

"I enjoyed my outing to Kandy. We discussed a lot of things and we will take them to our countries to share with others," he said.

"I had lot of fun. I met new friends and learned a lot about youth and their thinking," said Lucia, 16, who is from Taiwan.

Fifteen-year-old Steven from Philippines said he learned to be open-hearted and open-minded through the seminar." Dialogue leads to new life and I enjoyed my stay with my friends," he said.

With the lunchtime coming to an end they hurried towards the hall to attend the next item of their programme.

They showed great potential and will surely turn out to be great leaders in the future. Daily News Teen thanks Rev. Fr. Lawrence for giving the opportunity to talk to the teenagers and carry out their message to the world.

Roshen Steelman,17,introduced all the teenagers participating the seminar. While doing this he added his thoughts in this way. "We started this on August 18. All the students are determined to take back the things they learned to their countries.

It opened a new world for us.I had the best time of my life here and I am looking forward for more oppotunities like this," he said.

Readers' contributions

Honesty, the best policy

HONESTY is a rare commodity in the world today. Most people prefer the easy way out which sometimes deviates from the path of honesty, for to be completely honest means facing hardships and obstacles.

Nothing succeeds like success, and many people believe it is the "end result" that matters - not the means. Therefore, even if you acquire success, money, position and respect by being just a little out of line - it doesn't really matter much.

But remember anything acquired by incorrect and dishonest means will never last. What will sustain is honesty, and work done honestly.

In the world of today, honesty is regarded as a hindrance in achieving success rapidly. It may appear that the 'smooth, worker' who knows exactly how to manipulate gets ahead, while the honest not so cunning person gets left way behind.

Its like the old tale of the tortoise and the rabbit. Slow and steady and honesty wins the race.

In the end, it's not what others judge you by that counts, it's what you judge yourself as. It's how you feel about your actions and deeds, if you are one with them and feel you have achieved your goal honestly that's all that matters.

Meleza PAUL, Royal Institute International School