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Mohammad Ismail of Bangladesh Navy regained the title of the country’s fastest man after four years in the absence of England-based national record holder Imranur Rahman in the 48th National Athletics Championship that began at the National Stadium in Dhaka on Monday.

Ismail, who previously won the 100-metre gold at the Bangladesh Games in 2021 before losing his crown to Imranur Rahman in 2022, clocked 10.61 seconds to claim his fifth national title.

Bangladesh Navy’s Rakibul Hasan clocked 10.63 seconds to finish second, while Jubail Islam of Bangladesh Army won the bronze medal with 10.89 seconds.

‘No one wants to lose his position, and I am no exception. There are many hard competitors in the 100m sprint, and I have been trying to improve myself. I have trained for seven successive months to become the fastest man in these national championships,’ Ismail told reporters after winning the 100m sprint.

Ismail acknowledged the extra-pressure he would have felt if Imranur, who missed this year’s competition due to an injury, had participated in the event.

‘If there was Imranur Rahman in the race, of course there would have been an extra pressure on me, but the rest of the country’s sprinters also gave their best today, and I had to compete against them to win the gold.’

Comparing the facilities with Imranur, Ismail said, ‘Imranur has been in a totally different environment in the UK where athletics get much more focus. In England, he has coaching staff, physios, and modern devices, but we have good coaches.’

‘We don’t have modern devices, physios, nutritionist, or environments, so we lag behind the athletes like Imranur,’ he added.

The sprinter also wants to deliver a medal to the nation in the South Asian Games.

‘SA Games is like an Olympics to us, and Bangladesh always tries to win any of the medals in the 100m sprint, and I will be trying my level best to win a medal in the upcoming SA Games,’ said Ismail.

In the women’s 100-metre sprint, Shirin Akter of Bangladesh Navy retained her title by defeating Sumaiya Dewan.

The sprinter completed the race in 12.01 seconds to bag her 16th title, while Sumaiya finished second with a time of 12.15 seconds, and Azmi Khatun of BKSP won bronze, clocking 12.50 seconds.

‘It was not easy to defend the 100m title because the competitors were also good ones who also performed well,’ said Shirin.

‘[Abdullah Hel] Kafi sir helped a lot to maintain everything. I trained alone at BKSP, and the coach provided me with a coaching schedule from Kushtia University, and the Bangladesh Navy also supported me,’ said Shirin, hoping to deliver a medal from the international meet to the nation.