Lankan swimmers record better timings in Romania
M.F. Muhammad
Sri Lanka’s emerging star M.F. Muhammad produced the swim of his career in the Men’s 50m breaststroke at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championship held in Otopeni, Romania yesterday.
The 17-year-old clocked a stunning 29.59 seconds, his personal best, narrowly missing the national record of 29.48 seconds held by Kiran Jayasinghe by just 0.11 seconds.
It was a huge improvement for Muhammad, who had previously recorded 29.89 seconds as his best timing, set recently in Colombo. With this performance, he is placed 43rd in the world rankings among 86 swimmers who competed in the event.
Another Sri Lankan swimmer, Aasif Imran, also delivered a personal milestone in the same event. He clocked 32.71 seconds, bettering his previous best of 33.12 seconds, to finish 78th overall in the world rankings.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team gave a spirited performance. The quartet of Julie Hope, Syesha Anthony, Jessie Seneviratne and Lehara Melegoda clocked 4:09.71, finishing 24th overall among 29 competing nations.
Hope gave the team a strong start with a personal best of 1:02.06 in the opening lap. Anthony followed with 1:02.49, Seneviratne kept the pace with 1:02.09, and Melegoda anchored the team with 1:03.07.
The performances in Romania highlight the steady rise of Sri Lanka’s young swimmers at international level. Muhammad’s near-record swim, Imran’s progress, and the women’s relay team’s close brush with a national mark show that Sri Lanka is beginning to punch above its weight in junior swimming. The six-day championship will conclude today.