Heshan Bandara Unamboowa – (Swimming)

Published : 12:29 pm  July 27, 2012 |  No comments so far  |     |   (16)  |  

Unamboowe was born and raised in Kandy. He schooled at Dharmaraja College and later at Trinity College. In 2006 while at Trinity College he was the awarded as the Best All-round Student.

He took up swimming on his doctor’s advice at the age of four as he was an asthmatic. And the rest as they say, is history.

Unamboowe has held an Olympic Solidarity Scholarship, awarded by the National Olympic Committee since 2010. Through the scholarship he underwent training at the Nunawading Swimming Club in Melbourne, Australia, which has contributed a great deal towards his success.

He currently holds national records in the 50 metre Freestyle (long course), the 50, 100 and 200 metre Backstroke, and the 100, 200 and 400 metre Individual Medley (short course).

He has won one silver and four bronze medals at the 2006 South Asian Games and at the same event in 2010 he won gold in the 100 metre Backstroke establishing a new record, in addition to two silver and two bronze medals. He has won medals at the 2005, 2007, and 2009 Asian Age Group Swimming Championships. Unamboowe has competed at the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and captained the Youth Olympic Games to Singapore in 2010 and participated in three FINA World Championships. It was at the 2011 FINA World Championships that he qualified for the Olympic Games. His performance at the 2011 World Championship and his ranking on the FINA Point Table landed him an opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games on a universality place. Unamboowe hopes to continue swimming when he heads to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in the USA.