Cherantha de Silva

Cherantha de Silva (12 July 1996) is a Sri Lankan medal winning swimmer, who has represented his country at several international competitions. In 2014 the former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage sponsored de Silva to train at the Bolles School, Jacksonville, Florida. De Silva participated at 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, competing in the 50m and 100m freestyle and the 50m and 100m butterfly but failed to progress past the heats. De Silva subsequently competed in the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships held in Doha, Qatar, where he swam in the heats of the Open 50m butterfly, Open 100m butterfly, Open 50m freestyle and Open 100m freestyle. De Silva was selected in 2015 by the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union (SLASU) to receive the country's first FINA affiliated international training scholarship to train at the Thanyapura Aquatic Training Centre in Phuket, Thailand. In 2016 De Silva participated at the South Asian Games in Guwahati, India where he won one Gold, four Silver and two Bronze medals. De Silva holds two national records (200m and 50m butterfly). In May 2016 he became the first Sri Lanka to break the 55 second barrier in the 100m butterfly, setting a new national record of 54.99 seconds, narrowly missing the Olympic "B" qualification standard of 54.12 seconds. De Silva was bestowed the "Best Sportsman of the Year" award at school level, provincial and national level.