Four new records on opening day

Four new records were produced on the opening day of the Bangabandhu 31st National Swimming, Diving and Water Polo Championships at the Syed Nazrul Islam Swimming Complex in Mirpur today.

Bangladesh Navy's Samiul Islam Rafi bagged a new record in the 50m backstroke, finishing in 27.38 seconds, eclipsing the previous record of 28.12 seconds set by Jewel Ahmed.

However, while Jewel Ahmed lost one record, the veteran bettered his 200m butterfly time by clocking in two minutes and 10.24 seconds, eclipsing his own mark of 2 minutes and 11.57 second.

Sonia Akter of Bangladesh Navy followed in the footsteps of her teammates by producing a new record in the 200m butterfly event. She erased Junayna Ahmed's record of two minute and 34.14 second by clocking in two minutes and 31.15 seconds.

The Bangladesh Navy team, comprising Asif Reza, Mahmudunnabi, Md Islam and Mahfizur Rahman, bettered their 4x100 freestyle relay time by finishing with a time of 3 minutes and 35.80 seconds. The previous best was 3 minutes and 38.45 seconds.

Bangladesh Navy dominated the medals table with nine gold, six silver and two bronze followed by Bangladesh Army, who bagged one gold, two silver and five bronze medals.