Vinoli - a swimming star in the making

S M Jiffrey Abdeen-Kandy Sports Correspondent

The performance of fourteen year old Vinoli Siriwardena of Mahamaya Girls College, Kandy, at swimming needs focus and she has proved her worth by performance alone and is certainly a future star in the making in water sports.

She has displayed her class in making the impact in swimming. At the recently concluded Central Province Swimming Championship organised by the Central Province Aquatic Sports Association she simply swept the boards in the under 16 age group championship by winning all five events with five meet records. She won golds in 100 metres Free Style, 50 metres Back Stroke, 50 metres Free Style, 100 metres Back Stroke and 50 metres Butterfly. If the rules permitted her to participate in more events, there is no doubt that she would have struck gold in them too. Such is the talent of this enormously talented little girl.

The CEPASA Swimming meet held in Central Province has now become a major swimming championship and with every meet its lustre is improving and the promising swimmers from the province striving hard to put up good performance, which could merit a seat in the climb upstairs. The competition here is bitter and tense and the best performer wins. This is CEPASA.

She was awarded the Sri Lanka Schools Colours and she was among the five nominees for the Emerging Sports girls in schools for the year 2012.

At the Sri Lanka Schools swimming championship she established three records and was also a member of the schools relay team which won both events and pocketed four gold medals at this championship which is the highest in the schools segment.

Her record breaking feats in this championship included 50 metres Back Stroke with a timing of 33.57 seconds new meet record, 100 metres Back Stroke 1.14.68 mts - New Meet Record, 200 metres Back Stroke 2.43.73 mts New Meet Record. She was a member of Mahamaya 4x100 metres Free Style Relay team which became first and 4x100 metres Back Stroke which finished second.

Then she participated at the National Age Group Championship and in the 50 metres Back Stroke timed 34.25 seconds to establish a new record and in addition to this she also won the 10 metres Back Stroke and the 50 metres Butterfly Stroke.

At the Pentathlon Championship 2012 she was adjudged the under 16 girls champion.

Then came the National School Games 2012 held at Ananda College Swimming pool in 2012 she once again stamped her class by becoming first in 50 metres Back Stroke, 50 metres Free Style, 50 metres Butterfly and was third in the 200 metres Individual Medley.

At the National Sports Festival organised by the Ministry of Sports she once again excelled by securing second places in 50 metres Back Stroke and 50 metres Free Style and finished third in 100 metres Back Stroke. She was a member of the 4x50 metres Free Style relay team from Central Province which finished second.

This budding swimmer is coached by U B Sugath at school and also by U H Pemlath. Vinoli Siriwardena is the daughter of Sepali Udayakanth Siriwardena of Dambulla and Mrs Shyama Siriwardena nee Weerasinghe a former public schools athlete.

She gets all the guidance and encouragement from her Mahamaya College Principal Indira Withanarachchi whose love for swimming knows no bounds.