Mathew Abeysinghe likely to carry flag at SAG

By Susil Premalal

The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) is likely to name Sri Lanka’s leading swimmer Mathew Abeysinghe as its flag-bearer for the 13th South Asian Games to be held from December 1 to 10 in Kathmandu Nepal.

Abeysinghe won ten Medals at last the South Asian Games in Guwahati, India in 2016. He bagged seven Golds, 2 Silvers and a Bronze.

The SAG Gold Medals he won were in the 50 Metres Freestyle, 200 Metres Freestyle, 4X100 Freestyle, 100 Metres Butterfly, 400 Metres Medley, the 200 Metres Medley and the 400 Metres Freestyle. He has won the Silver in the 4X200 Metres Freestyle and the 4X100 Metres Freestyle. The Bronze Medal he won was in the 50 Metres Backstroke.

He took part in the Rio Olympics in 2016, the Jakarta Asian Games 2018, the Asian Youth Games 2018 and the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018. Other than that he has taken part in several international events winning several medals in them for the island.

The 23-year-old holds five South Asian Games Records and six Sri Lanka records.

Major General (Retd.) Dampath Fernando, the Chef De Mission of the Sri Lanka delegation for the 13th South Asian Games, when asked who had been chosen as the flag bearer for Sri Lanka, said that the Executive Committee of the National Olympic Committee had yet to decide but that Abeysinghe was the leading contender.

At the 2016 games the flag bearer was Sudesh Pieris, a Commonwealth Games Medallist.