Zahir completes double

Shohagi Akter of Bangladesh Navy stunned four-time champion and teammate Shirin Akter in the women's 200m sprint as the Dhaka City FC 14th National Summer Athletics Championship came to an end at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Shohagi, who was beaten to the top position in the 100m sprint by Shirin on the previous day, exacted revenge by clocked 25.10 seconds to win the gold medal. Shirin was 0.10 seconds slower while Sharifa Khatun of Bangladesh Army finished third with a timing of 25.40 seconds.

Shohagi had won the same event in last year's summer meet even though Shirin had won the gold in the National Athletics Championship later in the year.

Even though Shohagi was happy with beating the national champion, she was not satisfied with her overall effort as she felt she got tired towards the end of her dash.

“Even though I was leading considerably in the beginning, I eased up later, probably due to fatigue. I had to run 400m and 100m yesterday, so that probably had an impact on my performance. I would have been happier if my timing was a bit better,” said the Navy sprinter.

“I will try to do well in the South Asian Games. It will be hard to compete against the best, but I want to improve on my timing,” added Shohagi.

Meanwhile, promising athlete Zahir Raihan, who missed last year's national championship due to injury after making it to the semifinals of the World U-18 Championships, beat Shariful Islam by a distance to cruise to the title.

The 18-year-old BKSP student clocked 21.70 seconds while Shariful of Bangladesh Army took 0.50 seconds more to settle for the silver medal. Last year's national meet champion Abdur Rouf of Bangladesh Navy had to be content with a third-place finish after clocking 22.60 seconds.

Zahir, who won the 400m gold on the previous day, said he was confident after putting in a lot of effort in training.

“I was a bit worried after having been out of practice for a long time due to injury. But I trained hard and had the belief that I could do well,” Zahir said.

“400m and 200m are my favourite events. I believe I can do well in next year's SA Games if I am provided the facilities and good training,” said the boy from Sherpur.

Shohagi's gold in the 100m and her team's gold medal haul in the 4X100m relay in both men's and women's events helped Navy edge Bangladesh Army in the final tally of medals. Navy ended with 13 gold, 15 silver and 11 bronze for a total of 39 medals. Army, despite a four-gold haul by the meet's best athlete Sumi Akter, finished second with 11 gold, 14 silver and 13 bronze for a total of 38 medals. BKSP finished third with only three gold medals.