Akalanka Peiris of St. Peter’s College Colombo sat for his first examination paper of the Advanced Level examination, this morning, at the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Read: Fantastic Five ready to make waves in the Asian circuit
This was the first time a Sri Lankan athlete committed to a national examination overseas. Peiris will sit for the General English, General Knowledge and the Accounting paper in Jakarta during the Games.
Two officials from the Sri Lanka Examination department arrived in Jakarta to carry out the examinations with the help of the Sri Lanka Chief Commissioner of Indonesia. Sri Lankan ambassador of Indonesia Mr, Dhanushka Perera and the National Olympic Committee Secretary General Mr. Maxwell De Silva also joined this historic occasion.
To avoid any discrepancies, the examination was carried out on par with the local examination dates and times, the first being this morning at 10:30am Indonesia time (8:30am SL Time). A special examination hall was arranged for the swimmer to take his sitting with the two Lankan officials observing him.
Listen to what Akalanka had to say about this historic moment
Currently, Akalanka Peiris holds three national long course swimming records in the 50m Back, 100m Back and 50m Butterfly events.
The Sri Lankan swimming events will kick off tomorrow, 19th August, with Matthew Abeysinghe and Kavindra Nugawela taking on the Men’s 200m Freestyle events. Akalanka’s stint at the Asian Games will begin on 20th August with the 50m Backstroke, which he will complete and directly rush over to the examination hall for his second paper.
Akalanka will take on the Asian Games in 3 Individual events along with a relay. He will swim his pet events, 50m Fly and Back, and will take on a new challenge in the 200m Backstroke. Peiris will return to the Commonwealth 4x100m Relay team to swim the all-important third lap to round up his entries at the Asian Games.
