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Rana the 'pool tsar'

Records galore but none electronic

SPORTS REPORTER
Rubel Rana established himself as the top swimmer of the country when the Bangladesh Navy aquanaut hauled seven gold medals in the Keya Cosmetics 21st National Swimming Championships which concluded on Tuesday.
On the final day of the four-day meet at the National Swimming Complex in Mirpur, Rubel bagged three gold medals including setting a new national record in 100m backstroke.
Having set a new SAF mark in the 50m backstroke on the previous day, he clocked 1:01.96 seconds to touch the block way ahead of Bangladesh Army's Mohammed Wasiul and BKSP lad Rabiul Alam in the day's first event. The old national record was set in 1:02.70 seconds.
Rubel went on to add the 4x100m medley relay and the 400m individual medley relay medals to his tally before
signing off with almost half of his team's collection of gold.
His teammate Jewel Ahmed was the second best and his four gold medals inclusive of the 100m freestyle gold on the final day helped Bangladesh Navy emerge as champions with 16 gold, four silver and four bronze. They were followed by BJMC (9-13-3), BKSP (7-813), Bangladesh Army (5-14-8) and Bangladesh Ansar (5-3-8), the only other teams to win any gold.
Three more old national records were shattered in the final day's ten events with Sabura Khatun clinching the 100m backstroke gold in 1:19.74 seconds, almost one second faster than the previous national mark.
Sabura, who helped BJMC finish runners-up, was the most prolific swimmer of the meet with nine medals (5-3-1). The Kushtia swimmer also broke five national records in the pool and was cheered by the presence of national cricket captain Habibul Bashar, who visited the pool to inspire swimmers from his hometown.
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The other bright female performers were Ansars' Laboni Akhtar Jui (five gold medals) and Dolly Akhtar of BJMC (four gold, two silver), who were also involved in record breaking runs on Tuesday in the 400m individual medley and 100m freestyle events respectively. Dolly, another Kushtia swimmer, also captured the 200m breaststroke gold on the day.
The water-polo title and all three diving gold medals went to Army.
Bangladesh Swimming Federation (BSF) president and the Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral M Hasan Ali Khan distributed prizes at the closing ceremony.
Although the championships saw a total of 16 new national records, the participants showed their unhappiness over the federation's using hand timing in the era of nanotech.
"We can never be certain of our real standard in hand timing. We can also not judge our improvement in this way. That is the reason why we even fail to impress in international competitions," was the common complaint of the leading swimmers.
The federation has repeatedly promised to introduce electronic timing but it has totally failed to keep its promise.
Backstroke specialist Rubel and freestyle swimmer Jewel, meanwhile, both hoped that they would bring the country SA Games gold medals in their pet events.
"The only thing that worries me is that we have to train in winter and there is no heating system in our pools," Rubel told reporters.
Jewel added that it would be better if they prepare in abroad for next April's SA Games in Colombo.
The BSF general secretary Shahabuddin Ahmed, however, informed that the Army swimming pool has already introduced heating system and there would be no problem in training.