Imranur, Shirin continue dominant streak

Sprinters Imranur Rahman and Shirin Akter continued their dominant streak in the domestic circuit, winning the gold medal in their respective events in the opening day of the 47th National Athletics Championships at Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) yesterday.

Imranur clocked 10.36 seconds to retain the men's 100m gold while Shirin clocked 12.11 seconds to win gold in the women's 100m event for the 15th time in her career.

Imranur, running in lane 6, overcame the challenge from runnersup Mohammad Ismail (10.67 seconds) and bronze medallist Rakibul Hasan (10.72 seconds) to win his third gold in a row.

Ismail and Rakibul gave Imranur some competition till about the halfway point but the London-based 30-year-old sprinter had the last laugh on the newly installed track at the BNS.

Since the arrival of Imranur, no one has been able to beat the expatriate in the domestic circuit.

Imranur, however, claimed that he has never taken his compatriots lightly and prepares hard to remain Bangladesh's fastest man.

"Every time I tried to come first because there was no guarantee of retaining the title. Anything could happen in the championship, a sprinter could win or get disqualified in the competition.

"I always respect my countrymen and never take them lightly. I always take proper preparation to become the fastest sprinter in Bangladesh because milliseconds can make the difference in the sprint and I try to do my best," said the national-record holder.

Imranur's timing yesterday was a slight improvement of his Asian Games' timing of 10.44 seconds, which delighted the sprinter.

"I am content with the timing but I will be trying to improve my timing at international competition," said the county's fastest man, who is scheduled to compete in this month's Asian Indoor Athletic Championships where last year he won a gold medal in the 60m sprint.

"I think there will be some pressure on me to regain the gold medal because it is a new competition with probably new athletes. I will be trying to defend the title. The preparation is all right but I want to focus on some new things in the coming days to improve myself," said Imranur.

Meanwhile, Shirin, who beat second-placed Sumaiya Dewan (12.29 seconds) and third-placed Samia Akter Sathi (14.01 seconds), was over the moon with the win.

"I am satisfied with my timing as well as becoming the fastest woman for the 15th time," Shirin said. "In the sprint event, everyone is very close in terms of performance, so winning the gold medal is very challenging and joyous for me," said Shirin.

Meanwhile, high jumper Ritu Akter (1.76 meter), shot put thrower Zakia Akter (13.52 meter) and 5000m runner Samsun Nahar Ratna (18:49.38 minutes) set up new records in their respective events on the opening day of two-day championship.