The three-day-long National Summer Athletics, with the participation of over 400 athletes from 35 organisations from across the country, begins at the National Stadium in Dhaka today.
Four-time fastest man of the country Imranur Rahman is set to return to track after a year-long break due to injury. The last time the UK-based sprinter took part in a competition was in the Paris Olympics in August 2024.
Since then, the 32-year-old sprinter has had a break from participating in both domestic and international meets.
The former athlete from the Bangladesh Army will be representing the Bangladesh Navy this time after missing the last national meet in February 2025, during which the Navy鈥檚 Mohammad Ismail secured victory in the 100-metre sprint.
Imran, who had a few days of training after arriving in the country on August 15, will be looking to regain the fastest-man title from new team-mate Ismail when they run on the track for the men鈥檚 100-metre title today.
Ismail, who previously won the 100-metre gold at the Bangladesh Games in 2021 before losing his crown to Imran in 2022, clocked 10.61 seconds to claim his fifth national title in 2025.
Apart from the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 100-metre sprints, a total of 15 events will be held at the National Stadium on the opening day.
The participating athletes will be competing in 40 disciplines 鈥� 22 for men and 18 for women 鈥� in the 17th edition of the national summer meet.
The men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 marathon will be held at the 300-foot road in the city鈥檚 Purbachal area on the opening day, while all the throwing events, except the javelin throw, will be held at the Army Stadium.
An electronic timing machine will be used to determine all the running events鈥� results, and the top-three place finishers of all events will receive Tk 5,000, Tk 3,000 and Tk 2,000, respectively, as prize money.
The record-breaking winners in each event will receive Tk 20,000 as prize money.
In addition, US expatriate and former fastest man of the country Shah Jalal Mobin will give cash prizes of Tk 10,000, Tk 6,000 and Tk 4,000, respectively, to the top three finishers of the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 100-metre sprint events.
The Bangladesh Athletics Federation general secretary, Mohammad Shah Alam, disclosed the details of the tournament at a press conference held at the National Stadium on Thursday.
