Mezbah Ahmed of BKSP and Nazmunnahar Beauty of BJMC were crowned as the fastest man and woman in the Bangladesh Games after they won their respective 100-metre sprints at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Wednesday.
The athletics discipline concluded with 13 events decided on the final day. Bangladesh Army and BJMC dominated the events having won 11 gold medals each.
Young Mezbah touched the finishing line in 10.75 seconds to become the country’s new sprint king while Beauty, who faced strong competition from BKSP girl Shirin Akter and Zakia Sultana Subarna, retained her crown finishing the race in 12.51 seconds.
The race for men’s 100-metre sprint was limited to Mezbah and Abu Raihan of BKSP and Army’s Mohan Khan after Hafizur Rahman, a former fastest man, was declared disqualified for a false start.
Mezbah put all competitors behind with a clear distance and confirmed the most prestigious gold medal.
Abu Raihan, the gold medallist in 200-metre sprint, finished second and Mohon Khan, Bangladesh representative in the London Olympics, had to remain satisfied with bronze.
Mezbah showed his talent at the junior level when he won six and five gold medals in consecutive junior meets before he decided to run with the seniors in 2011.
In the last summer meet he finished ahead of Hafizur Rahman of Bangladesh Air Force but this time there was no stopping for him, though he was unable to break the national record of 10.54 seconds, set by late Mahbubul Alam.
`I knew that I will win gold. It feels really good,’ said an ecstatic Mezbah.
‘I have come all this way step by step. First time when I participated in the senior event, I came out third and then second next time and now first,’ said 18-year-old Mezbah, who gave credit to his BKSP coach Abdullah Al Kafi for his success.
Meanwhile, Beauty overcame a strong challenge from the BKSP duo to retain her crown in an event that she has been dominating for the last eight years.
Barring two defeats in 2009 and 2011 summer meets, she has always won the event since 2005. She was, however, not very confident this time because of her injury.
`I had little pain in my leg so I couldn’t train well,’ said Beauty.
‘I was sad when I lost the 200-metre gold and was determined to win the 100m. I’m satisfied with the timing but the most important thing is that I kept my place as the fastest woman of the country,’ she added.
-With New Age input
