Ariful, Irene fastest

Ariful Islam Orange gestures after winning gold in the 100m sprint of the 18-19 age group on the last day of the Walton 29th National Junior Athletics Championships at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. PHOTO: STAR

Ariful Islam Orange and Irene Akter retained titles in the 100m sprint of 18-19 age group category as they won gold medal in the Walton 29th National Junior Athletics Championships at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
The feat from Orange and Irene helped Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishthan (BKSP) retain their supremacy at the junior championships with 20 gold, 9 silver and 4 bronze medals, and were followed by Narail DSA who won three gold, four silver and three bronze medals.
Orange, an intermediate level student, became the fastest for the third time in a row at the junior meet after beating Abu Abdullah of Natore with a timing of 11.30 seconds while Irene, a class-11 student, won the 100m sprint gold for the second successive time after putting behind her teammate Tamanna Akter (12.67 seconds) with a timing of 12.32 seconds.
Orange came into this championship after missing out on the Bangladesh Games due to hamstring injury, but proved his worth by retaining the title yesterday.
“It is an outcome of hard work as I had to toil hard to recover from my injury. Now I am looking forward to taking part at the senior level,” said Orange, who also set a new record in long jump after clearing 7.07 metres. The previous record was 6.81 metres.
Irene, meanwhile, had the confidence of retaining her title as she was taking part in the junior level for the fifth time.
“I am happy to win the 100m gold medal again,” said Irene. “I believe this achievement will boost me to do well in the Asian Youth Games in China.”
However, it was double delight for Ayesha Siddiqua, who won the 200m gold (17-18 age-group) yesterday, having won the 100m sprint on the opening day. She took 27.00 seconds to finish.
After being beaten by ultimate winner Uzzal Chandra Sutradhar in the 100m sprint (17-18 age-group), Ashik Kumar Haldar was determined to go one better in the 200m and the class-11 student did it with a time of 22.90 seconds.