Sports Desk: Irene Akhtar stumbled as she stepped onto the finish line. Irene cut her knee and started bleeding after falling at high speed on the athletics track of the Banani Army Stadium. But after a while, all the pain was gone!
Sheikh Kamal has been announced as the fastest man of the 2nd Bangladesh Youth Games (U-17). This sprinter from Rangpur Division became the fastest human of the Games with a time of 12.20 seconds. Naim Sheikh of Khulna Division became the fastest man with a time of 10.80 seconds.
Table tennis couple Mohammad Ali and Sonam Sultara’s son Abu Sufian (center) won bronze at the Youth Games for the first time.
Generally, the stadium gallery is empty during Bangladesh’s domestic athletics competition. But Naim and Irene can count themselves lucky.
On the occasion of the closing ceremony of the Youth Games, the Bangladesh Army Stadium was overflowing with spectators. Most of them are students at the Shaheed Ramiz Uddin School in Dhaka. Aside from this, there were wives and families of army members and officers. Spectators cheered as the athletes ran.
Athlete Naim’s father is a poor farmer from Dighlia police station in Khulna. He can’t even afford to buy Naim a good pair of sneakers. Every morning, Naim walks 12 kilometers from home to the Dighlia YMA grounds to practice.
Excited about the result of that practice, the sprinter sad, “Today my efforts and hard work have been ssuccessful. I came to the games with the aim of winning gold in the the 100 meter.id, ‘Today my efforts and hard work have been successful. I came to the games with the aim of winning gold in 100m. My goal this year is to get good results in the senior meet.
Naim participated in the National Junior Athletics Competition in Dhaka last year but did not get any medals. He was confident about winning a medal this time. ‘When I didn’t do well last year, I promised to do well in the Youth Games. Finally, I got it.
Irene Akhter, a student at BKSP, has also won gold in the 200-meter race in this year’s Youth Games. His father, Akkas Ali, works as a daily laborer in Kurigram. Like eight to ten families in Bangladesh, the father never wanted his daughter to play sports. After winning the gold today, Irene said, ‘My father had no interest in sports at all. Mother used to secretly send me to training. My father used to say, “Why should girls play?
However, after getting admission to BKSP in 2019, Father’s mindset changed. ‘After winning gold in the 200m at this year’s games, I thought I could win the 100m as well,’ Irene said.Even though I fell at the last minute today, I knew I had reached the finish line. In fact, my legs stuck together at the last moment while running. So I could not keep the balance.
Olympic gold-winning Jamaican sprinter Shelley-Ann Fraser Price is Irene’s favorite athlete. One day in the future, Irene also dreams of running in the Olympics: ‘My first dream is to win gold at the SA Games. One day I want to run in the Olympics.
