Sonia, Rubel rule Day One

Bangladesh Navy's Rubel Rana swims during the opening day of the National Swimming Championship at the National Swimming Complex in Mirpur yesterday. Rubel won three gold including two in team events.Photo: STAR

Bangladesh Navy bettered their own record in the 4X100m freestyle relay to set up a new national record in the Prime Bank 25th National Swimming Championship at the National Swimming Complex in Mirpur yesterday.
The relay team comprising Rubel Rana, Mahfizur Rahman, Jewel Ahmed and Nazrul Islam took 3:42.30 minutes to eclipse their previous record of 3:43.72 minutes set up by Rubel Rana, Nazrul Islam, Jewel Ahmed and Shariful Islam in the 2010 edition.
Before setting the record, Rubel Rana won two gold medals in 200m backstroke and 400m Individual Medley as the swimmer from Navy timed 2:26.07 minutes and 5:09.45 minutes in his respective events.
With two gold from Rubel, Bangladesh Navy finished the first day with five gold, three silver and one bronze. However, that feat could not help them put Bangladesh Ansar behind as Sonia Akther of Ansar dominated the pool with four gold including one in relay.
Bangladesh Ansar were on top of the medals tally with six gold and four silver medals while Bangladesh Army finished third with one gold, three silver and four bronze medals.
Sonia started her gold-haul with 200m butterfly and completed the day with the relay gold.
Sonia won gold in 200m butterfly, 200m backstroke, 400m Individual Medley and 4X100m relay while her teammate veteran Dolly Akhter raised the team's tally to six with gold in 50m freestyle and 100m breaststroke. Dolly was also part of the 4X100 relay squad.
SA Games gold medallist Shahajan Ali Rony of Bangladesh Army beat Bangladesh Navy's Shariful Islam to win the 100m breaststroke at a time of 1:06.97 minutes. Shariful took 1:08.08 minutes to finish the swim.
Bangladesh Navy's promising swimmer Anik Islam, a former student of BKSP, won the day's first gold when he beat teammate Monirul Islam in the 200m butterfly with a time of 2:15.69 minutes. Monirul took 2:19.28 minutes.
Another Navy talent Mahfizur Rahman won 50m freestyle at a time of 24.57 seconds while Debabrato Mondol won the silver timing 25.10 seconds.
Commerce Minister Muhammad Faruk Khan inaugurated the three-day meet where sponsor Prime Bank's deputy managing director Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury was also present.