Hard work, desire, and determination can take a person to an extraordinary level. Jewel Ahmed, who becomes the best swimmer at the Bangabandhu 31st National Swimming, Diving, and Water Polo Championships as the swimmer, is the perfect example.
Representing Bangladesh Army, he ended the competition yesterday by producing a third record, which was the concluding day at the Syed Nazrul Islam National Swimming Complex in Mirpur.
in the 200m backstroke and 200m butterfly, Jewel surpasses his own record time resulting in another record in the 400m individual assortment by finishing in 4 minutes and 46.13 seconds, overshadowing Kajal Mia’s 4 minutes 47.34 seconds. His magnificent performance mesmerized the audience as they became a witness to a new record. It seems like he is native to water.
Nonetheless, the 27-year-old painfully experienced his two national records broken in the50m backstroke and 100m backstrokes by non-other than his teammate Samiul Islam Rafi. Fortunately, Jewel’s pride was not taken away by this unforeseen event.
While talking to Jewel, he said,” Due to injury, I could participate in only one event [in the last national championships], so I promised myself that I would become the best player in the next edition. “He also added,” I worked really hard and willed myself to get this far. I am happy that I became the best swimmer in the competition,” It should be pointed out here that he bagged silver in the 400m medleys in the last South Asian Games held in Kathmandu, which indicated the fruitfulness of his hard work and dedication.
He expresses his disappointment in the lack of electronic timers by saying, “To be honest, it was disappointing for all the swimmers to compete without electronic timers, which were installed after spending crores. Due to hand-timing, we cannot get our exact timing and struggle in the international competitions. “The Kushtia native added,” Besides, there may be dissatisfaction if the time-keeper is a bit late. But with an electronic board, a swimmer can easily see how close he was to losing or winning a medal.”
By pointing out the 19 new national records set at the event, Jewel emphasized that swimmers have been improving gradually and have more potential than before. The records are in his support.
By grabbing five gold medals and creating one new record, Sonia Akther grabbed the title of the best female swimmer. She was representing Bangladesh Navy.
With 33 gold, 25 silver, and 14 bronze medals, Bangladesh Navy became champions, and Bangladesh Army finished runners-up by securing 9 gold, 13 silver and 17 bronze medals. BKSP managed to get the third position by getting one gold, five silver, and ten bronze medals.
Bangladesh Swimming Federation president and Bangladesh Navy Chief Admiral M Shaheen Iqbal, Youth and sports secretary Mesbah Uddin, and BSF vice-president Engineer Golam Mohammad Alamgir were present prize-giving ceremony. Besides, the ceremony was crowded with guests.
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