South Asian Aquatic Championship Sea Swim: Udayanga, Nikithasethru win; women protest over distance

Monday, October 24, 2016 - 01:00

The winner of the men’s event Sri Lanka’s Tharindu Udayanga (centre) with silver medalist India’s Avinash Mani (left) and bronze medalist India’s Ashwathaman Siridar.

Tharindu Udayanga of Sri Lanka and Nikithasethru Venugopal of India won the men’s and women’s events of the South Asian Aquatic Championship 2016 sea swim that was conducted from Galle Face to Wellawatte yesterday. The silver medal of the men’s event was won by India’s Avinash Mani while the bronze medal went to Ashvathaman Siridar also of India. The silver medal in the women’s event was won by India’s Shruthi Mahalingam and the bronze medal was clinched by Sri Lanka’s Uththama Silva.

There was a protest by 12 swimmers over the reduction of the women’s sea swim from five to 2.5 kilometres without their prior knowledge.

But the organisers went ahead with the race and awarded the medals to the first three winners. When questioned about the dispute the chief organiser of the South Asian Aquatic Championship Upekha Samarawickrama said that due to heavy showers the distance was reduced taking into consideration the safety of the swimmers.

She said, they decided to reduce the distance of the women’s race and informed the swimmers by conveying messages through boats while the race was in progress. In the South Asian Aquatic Championship 2016 which concluded on Saturday Sri Lanka’s Matthew Abeysinghe and Kimiko Raheem bagged five gold medals each while Indian swimmer Sanjana Kalpakam also won five gold medals.

Abeysinghe won the 50 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres free style events in addition to the 100 metres butterfly and 200 metres medley event while Kimiko won the 50 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres free style events and the 200 metres back stroke event.