Despite the return of sporting activities last September following a seven-month break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, swimming had not organised any events. But the swimmers, especially from services teams, have burst onto the limelight and are now a topic of discussion after producing 11 national records in the recently-concluded Bangabandhu 9th Bangladesh Games.

Jewel Ahmed of Bangladesh Army is among the crop of swimmer, having bagged four gold medals and setting two national records to go with his two silver medals. The 26-year-old, who won two silver medals in the last South Asian Games, held in Nepal in 2019, told The Daily Star yesterday about the problems posed by the Games' deferral.

"Swimmers were fully prepared for the 2020 Games in April, but it was suspended and then we again prepared for February but the Games were held two months later, in April, 2021. So, our preparation was interrupted and all the swimmers faced problems in terms of practice due to the of the Games," Jewel said.

"However, I think my individual performance was good because I improved my timing in two events in which I made national records in 2019, but unfortunately I could not defend the gold medal in both events."

The swimmer from Kushtia, who thanked his Unit CEO for a gifting him the Tk13,000 swimwear that he was sporting, added: "I had a target of defending all the five gold medals that I won in 2019, but I missed one of them. There is no sorrow about that because I improved my timing in that event but lost to a better swimmer."

Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Army shared all 42 gold medals up for grabs, underscoring the point that the pool was dominated by service teams and Jewel believes good training facilities is the reason service teams enjoy such success.

"I can tell you about the Army, which has good training facilities and coaches. So the swimmers can train whenever we want. Besides, our higher-ups also take care of our needs properly so we are doing well. But there are no such facilities at a district level and they can't get results," said Jewel, who first played for Bangladesh Ansar at junior level before joining Army in 2012.

On the gap with swimmers from India and Sri Lanka, Jewel said: "The swimmers from the sub-continent have been improving, but swimmers from India and Sri Lanka are moving ahead faster than Bangladeshi swimmers on the back of long-term training aboard. So we can't catch them despite improving our timing."

Jewel also praised the talent hunt programme, from which swimmers like Kajal Mia, Nur Alam and Anna have been unearthed and accelerated into mainstream swimming competitions, and emphasised the need for such long-term talent hunt programmes to take Bangladesh to new heights.

"As records are being made in each of the Games or swimming championships, we are moving forward and improving. I think a good future is ahead of us but we need long-term training under quality foreign coaches if we are not given training aboard," said Jewel, who possesses five national records.