Akalanka Peiris of St. Peter’s College will take part in the Youth Olympic Games 2018, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina as the sole male swimmer for Sri Lanka.
The talk of the town at the 2018 Asian Games, young Peiris has qualified to represent Sri Lanka at the highest international youth event as the only hope in the pool for his motherland.
Read: Swimming at the Asian Games 2018 – Akalanka Peiris
He will take on his pet events, the 50m Backstroke and the 100m Backstroke as well as the 50m Butterfly starting on the 7th October at the Obelisco de Buenos Aires Grand Stadium. He is the current National record holder of all three of these events, having set the 50m Fly and 50m Back records at this years’ Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
National athlete and a top academic, Akalanka Peiris is a stand out performer in the field of swimming for Sri Lanka. In 2018 alone, he has represented his nation at the Commonwealth Games and at the recently held Asian Games.
Although Akalanka’s performance brought him two new National records in the 50m back and Fly, he was unable to reach to finals in either of the events he participated. He also finished 6th in the Men’s 50m Backstroke in Jakarta, Indonesia at the 2018 Asian Games.
Read: Akalanka falls short in 50m Back
Further, he became the first ever Sri Lanka student to sit for a Sri Lankan GCE A/L examination outside Sri Lanka as he was granted special permission to take the examination in Jakarta, Indonesia just prior to his events at the Asian Games.
His commitment and perfect balance in his career as a student athlete has paid off, evidently, with this qualification. Stay logged on to ThePapare.com as we are geared to bring you real time updates of the swimmers’ journey at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games.
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