Hasan, Rupa doubles bring down curtain
The curtain on the inaugural Bangladesh Youth Games fell yesterday at the Bangabandhu National Stadium with the completion of 100m sprints as Hasan Mia became the fastest boy of the country while Rupa Khatun became the fastest girl.
Hasan from Chittagong division and Rupa from Rashahi division, both students of Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan, stole the show by winning both the 100m and 200m sprint gold medals.
Hasan, who came into the final on the back of back-to-back gold medals with record timing in the Junior Athletics Championships in 2016 and 2017, outshone Comilla's rookie athlete Abdul Motaleb despite lagging behind over the first 80 metres. Hasan exploited his experience in the last 20 metres to ensure the gold medal with a timing of 11.06 seconds (electronic timing) as Motaleb had to be content with a silver medal (11.40 seconds) in his first appearance at the national level.
Hasan had set a national record (hand-timing) in the 100m sprint (U-19) during the last edition of the Junior Athletics Championships in November last year. He clocked 10.60 seconds to eclipse the previous 2015 record of Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman.
“I was a bit nervous as I had never run under electronic timer before. Today timing could have been better if I had not been sick. However, I am very happy to win a gold medal in the first-ever Youth Games,” Hasan said.
“I got admitted in class five at BKSP in 2014 when I was only 12. In the last junior meet, I was asked to take part in U-19 group because of my good timing and I won the gold medal,” added Hasan.
Despite losing to Hasan, Motabel was equally happy after winning the silver medal in his debut appearance in athletics.
“For the first time, I ran with a spike boot which was also not good to run and eventually lost the final. However I am happy to win a medal,” said Motaleb.
Though it was a first experience for Motaleb, running on the tract was nothing new for BKSP student Rupa of Pabna district in Rajshahi division. She had previously won a gold medal in the junior meet with a timing of 12.60 seconds (hand-timing).
Rupa however, had the satisfaction of beating 2016 national junior champion Sonia Akter. Rupa finished first with a timing of 12.30 seconds (electronic timing) while Sonia clocked 12.40 seconds.
“I always face problems at start but I recover gradually. Today was no different for me but I was determined and bagged the gold after recovering,” Rupa said. “I am happy to have bettered my timing from the last junior championships.”
Rupa's feat also helped Rajshahi topple Khulna and emerge champions with 37 gold, 35 silver and 40 bronze medals. Khulna finished second with 37 gold, 23 silver and 34 bronze medals while Chittagong finished third with 35 gold, 26 silver and 42 bronze medals. Some 2660 athletes from eight divisions competed for 163 gold medals.
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