Dilrukshi makes central hills proud

Wednesday, 7 March 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Dilrukshi Perera of Hillwood College, Kandy will be the only participant from an outstation school at the Commonwealth Games which will take place in Gold Coast, Australia from 4-15 April.

Two women and four men, with their best timings in their respective events, have been picked by the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union to represent the country at this prestigious event which takes place every four years.

Two girls both making their debut entry to the Commonwealth Games are Vinoli Kaluarachchi of Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya and Dilrukshi Perera of Hillwood College Kandy. Both girls, having had an excellent record in 2017, have clocked impressive stops to earn their place in the national squad this year. They will bring in prior international experience to the table as both Kaluarachchi and Perera have had the honour of representing Sri Lankan at World Junior events in 2016 and 2017.

Perera stamped her class at the South Asian Games (India), Asian School Games (Indonesia) and South Asian Aquatic Championship which took place in Sri Lanka. All these events took place in 2016. The following year she represented the country at the Youth Commonwealth Games (Bahamas), World Junior Swimming Championship (USA) and Asian Age Group Swimming Championship (Uzbekistan).

Her personal best is 27.85 seconds at the 50-metre freestyle while in the butterfly event she clocked 30.30 seconds as her best.

Speaking to the Daily FT, Dilrukshi, the daughter of former Trinity second rower (1983) Devapriya Perera, said: “I want to beat my best every time I swim and be at my best.”

“I want to make my country, school and the central hills proud.” In the men’s segment Cherantha De Silva, Matthew Abeysinghe, Kyle Abeysinghe and Akalanka Peiris will tour Australia next month. (SJ)