Zahir equals another 400m record
Promising sprinter Zahir Rayhan equalled a hand-timer record in the 400m race of the Bangabandhu 44th National Athletics Championships yesterday exactly two years after he broke a 32-year-old electronic-timer record in the same event of the same championship.
Zahir took 47.20 seconds (hand-timer) to run 400m at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, equalling a record set 30 years ago by Mehdi Hasan of BJMC at the Army Stadium in Banani during the National Athletics Championships in 1991.
The 21-year-old sprinter made an electronic-timer record in 400m event of the 2019 National Championships with a time of 46.86 seconds to eclipse the time of 47.55 seconds set by Milzar Hossain in the Asian Games in 1986.
Zahir was seen as the clear favourite yesterday and that was reflected at the end of the sprint, with second-placed Ashrafuzzaman clocking in at 48.60 seconds and third-placed Moin Uddin taking 49.60 seconds.
After missing out in the final of the 400m event of the last South Asian Games in Nepal due to respiratory problems, Zahir wanted to better his time despite the limitations on training levied by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We have been determined to produce a good time. I could not train well amid the pandemic but I tried to train with the help of the Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Athletics Federation," said the former BKSP student, who ran with a blue sprint suit for the first time.
"The SA Games are a big regret for me because I could not participate in the final of the 400m, an event I was supposed to win. So my target was to do better at home ahead of the Bangladesh Games and Olympic Games, because it is my childhood dream to participate," said Zahir. "After the SA Games, I set a new target to win a 400m medal in the Asian Games."
"If I can finish within 45 seconds, I can win a medal in the Asian Games, but I need advanced training abroad along with world-class athletes because my friends overseas are improving their time through training programmes in the USA and Jamaica. They are now taking 45 to 46 seconds but they once took the same time I am now producing," Zahir said.
Meanwhile, Sumi Akter tumbled just two steps before the finish line in the 3000m event, allowing Rinki Biswas of Bangladesh Army to clock in first and produce a national record with a time of 10:43.30. The previous best time belonged to Halima Khan, who held the 3000m record for the last 17 years by 11:8.15 in 2003.
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