Abdullah Hasan and Tamanna Akter emerged as the fastest boy and girl respectively in the 100m sprint of 18-19 age group in the Walton 30th National Junior (Age-Group) Athletics Championship 2014 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
The surprise of the second and last day of the meet was Abdullah who defeated Uzzal Chandra Shutradhar to clinch the gold medal for the first time in his career in the most prestigious event of the meet. The boy from Natore who won silver in the previous edition, took 11.10s to complete his track while Kishorganj’s Uzzal clocked 11.20s. Saiful Ismail of BKSP finished third taking only .2s more than Uzzal. In the 400m sprint, Jahangir Alam from Narayanganj emerged as first by beating BKSP’s Saiful Islam and Romel.
BKSP athlete Tamanna Akter fulfilled her objective to win three gold medals including the one in the girls’ 100m sprint (age group 18-19). Tamanna clocked 12.94s to touch the finishing line while Bonna Khatun from Narail took 14.20s to bag the silver and Rimpa Khatun from the same district won the bronze.
Tamanna had earlier won gold in the 200m sprint in the girls’ 18-19 age-group on the opening day and won another gold in 400m sprint yesterday. Encouraged by her grandfather Ketab Al who was a former athlete and now a referee, and coach Shirin Sultana Kaniz, Tamanna wants to be a
coach in future. “My main events are 200m and 400m sprint but winning the gold in 100m sprint is very special for me. Now I want to continue my rhythm and try my best to get a chance to play in the SA Games,” said Tamanna after her run yesterday.
In the boys’ javelin throw event from18-19 age group, Al Amin’s throw covered a distance of 52.04 meters to earn him the gold medal while Ibrahim and Saiful Islam secured the second and third position respectively.
Asma Haque of Kishorganj continued her dominance in the girls’ 18-19 age group long jump by winning the gold for the fourth consecutive time. Bonna Khanom and Ripa Khatun won the silver and bronze respectively.
Umme Hafsa clinched the gold in girls’ high jump event while the second and third position went to Halima Akter and Ruma Akter respectively.
Overall, BKSP emerged as the champion of this championship with 16 golds, 9 silvers and 2 bronzes. Khulna finished second with 5 golds, 6 silvers and 4 bronzes while Naryanganj finished third with 3 golds and 1 bronze.