Imranur, Sumaiya regain fastest sprinter titles

Imranur Rahman and Sumaiya Dewan once again emerged as the country's fastest man and woman respectively on an eventful first day of the three-day 17th Summer Athletics Championship, which also witnessed two new national records yesterday.

Fit-again Imranur of Bangladesh Navy, who returned to the track for the first time since his participation in last year's the Paris Olympics, clocked 10.64 seconds in men's 100 metres sprint to finish ahead of second-placed Md Abdul Motalab of Bangladesh Army (10.86s) while holder Mohammad Ismail won bronze (10.88s) at the National Stadium in Dhaka.

The women's 100m sprint ended in a photo finish, with Sumaiya beating 16-time champion Shirin Akhter by just 0.02 seconds.

Sumaiya clocked 12.19 seconds and Shirin took 12.21 seconds. Behind the two Bangladesh Navy athletes, Bangladesh Army's Sharifa Khatun (12.41s) finished third.

Sumaya Dewan celebrates her 100m crown. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

Some drama ensued after the race however, as Shirin demanded to see the snap of the photo finish, and the commotion delayed the official result announcement by over an hour.

Imranur was far from his best in the meet, as the UK-based athlete finished way below his national record timing of 10.11 seconds. But he was satisfied after claiming his fifth fastest title in his return to domestic competition after over a year.

"This is my comeback race. All I wanted to do is finish the race healthy. I wasn't too concerned about the timing. It's about the victory and just finishing healthy," said Imranur, thanking his new outfit – Bangladesh Navy – for how they supported his rehabilitation process.

"Of course, there are many events ahead, Islamic games and South Asian games. So, I'm going to take it step by step. I'm going to go back into training, focus on a lot of missed training that I've had over the last six or seven months… Of course, our main focus is to get the gold in South Asian games," said Imranur.

Sumaiya, who was the country's fastest woman in 2021, had to toil hard for four years to regain the title.

"This time I was quite optimistic about winning gold because I worked hard and tried to overcome my shortcomings in finishing," said Sumaiya before thanking her team, coach and her family members.

At the Army Stadium in Banani, Abdul Alim of Bangladesh Army set a national record in discuss throw, clearing 46.94 metres to break the previous record of 44.98m, which belonged to Azharul Islam.

Bangladesh Army's Jannat Begum, whose gender identity has caused some controversy, also set a national record in shotput, clearing 13.91 metres. The previous best was 13.52m from Jakia Akhter.