Four records on opening day of national swimming

Four new national records were set on the opening day of the Max Group 33rd National Swimming, Diving and Water Polo Championship at the Syed Nazrul Islam National Swimming Complex in Mirpur on Saturday, although the legitimacy of the records might be called into question given the absence of an electronic timer.

The national meet got underway with hand-timing system for the fourth consecutive edition as the malfunctioning electronic timer has never been used at the venue since its installation in 2019, leaving swimmers frustrated.

Samiul Islam Rafi, the national record holder in three events last edition and Bangladesh's male representative at Paris Olympics this year, set a new record in 50m backstroke with a timing of 26.79 seconds, shaving off 0.11 seconds from his previous record last year.

Juthi Akter, like her Navy teammate, set a new record in women's 50m backstroke with a timing of 32.74 seconds, eclipsing her own record from 2021 by just 0.01 seconds.

Romana Akter of Bangladesh Army set a new record in women's 100m breaststroke with a timing of 1min 18.27sec, chalking off Mariam Akter's 2021 record by 0.73 seconds.

The last record of the day came in men's 200m butterfly event where Navy's Kajol Mia broke his own record from last year with a timing of 2min 09.41sec, his previous best being 2min 10.25sec.

A total of 10 swimming events were held on the opening day, with Navy leading the medals tally with seven gold, six silver and three bronze medals. Army were in second position with three gold, four silver and five bronze medals. BKSP got two bronze medals to their name.