Bangladesh’s fastest woman Shirin Akter finally showed improvement as she created a national record in the 200m sprint in the Bangabandhu 9th Bangladesh Games yesterday.
Having equalled former fastest woman Nazmun Nahar Beauty’s 100m sprint record on Saturday, Shirin of Bangladesh Navy yesterday broke Beauty’s 200m record of 24.30 seconds set in 2006 with a hand-time of 24.20 seconds. Sharifa Khatun of Bangladesh Army timed 24.50 seconds to win silver made while Kabita Roy of Bangladesh Ansar won bronze with a time of 25.90 seconds.
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“I have been trying to improve day-by-day and this improvement is the outcome of uninterrupted, hard training under the guidance of my coach Abduallah Hel Kafi,” said Shirin, who has been training at BKSP since 2017. “I knew I would be able to better my timing because I was doing better in training. With this one, I have won a 10th gold medal in 200m and 12th gold in 100m,” Shirin told The Daily Star.
At the Army Stadium, cyclist Biswas Faisal Hossain face no challenges as he scripted three national records. The 21-year-old from, representing Bangladesh Army, clocked 13.60 seconds for a new record in the 1000m sprint, eclipsing Tariqul Islam’s 15.10 seconds in 2013.
The Bagerhat native had already made two new records in the 1000m Time trial and 1200m Olympic sprint. He will also participate in the 1600m team time trial and 4000m team pursuit today.
“Determination, practice and a good cycle are the instruments behind these results,” Faisal told The Daily Star. “I want to produce good results in the SA Games and Asian Games if I am given the opportunity. There is little difference between Bangladeshi and Indian cyclists. If we are given high-standard cycles and velodrome facilities, we can easily reduce the gap,” said Faisal.
On a day of records, Asif Reza and Sonia Akter became swimming’s power couple at the Syed Nazrul Islam Swimming Complex, scripting records in the men’s and women’s 50m freestyle events respectively. In swimming’s 200m freestyle, Mahfizur Rahman Sagar made yet another national record.
In Gazipur, archer Ashim Kumar Das made a national record in the qualification round of individual compund event by making 704 out of 720. The Previous best of 700 belonged to Sheikh Sajib.
