National Summer Athletics Championships: Hasan, Shirin fastest

Mohammad Hasan Mia dethroned Mohammad Ismail to become the fastest man in 100m sprint of Trust Bank 15th National Summer Athletics Championships clocking 10.61 seconds in electronic timer at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

In women’s 100m sprint, Shirin Akter of Bangladesh Navy retained her title, her national title in a row, after clocking 12.20 seconds while her teammate Shohagi Akter and Sharifa Khatun of Bangladesh Army won silver and bronze medals finishing with 12.47 seconds and 12.48 seconds respectively.

Hasan, who joined Bangladesh Army just a month ago, delivered the first gold for army in seven years since his successor Mohan Mia had won the 100m sprint in 2012 national athletics Championships.

Hasan, a class-10 student of BKSP, had lost to against Ismail of Bangladesh Navy, who had set a national record (hand-timing) in the national meet in February this year, but this time he had the last laugh as Ismail settled for a silver with a timing of 12:47 seconds.

Rakibul Hasan of Bangladesh Navy finished third with a timing of 12:48 seconds. 

The emergence of Hasan is, however, not an accident as he also won the 100m sprint in last year’s summer meet. Hasan has won 11 gold medals at junior and senior level since coming into athletics in 2016.

“I’m happy because my hard work finally paid off. I will try to hold on to my position in future. I want to produce better timing in future,” said the 5.5-inch sprinter.

“I know running in South Asian Games is very tough because senior and good athletes take part there and I must improve my timing if I want to have a good result,” said Hasan from Cumilla.

Sprinter Shirin is also optimistic about the SA Games in December in Nepal as she wants to work hard in the ongoing training camp.

“I have talked to my coach [Abdullah Hel Kafi] about it. I am ready to do any hard work and follow the instructions to improve myself because I want to win gold medal in SA Games,” said Shirin.