Romana Akhter was shivering in a wet swimming costume on a mild winter afternoon in November. Although he suffered a little in the winter, he had a smile on his face.
Maxgroup 33rd National Swimming Competition started on Saturday at Mirpur Syed Nazrul Islam Swimming Complex. A total of 4 new national records were set on the first day. But at the end of the day Romana, the swimmer of Bangladesh Army, stole all the limelight. On the first day, she won gold in the women's 100m breast stroke with a record.
Nikli swimmer of Kishoreganj was somehow isolated from water for almost 4 years. Romana went to Sudan on a UN mission due to her army service.
There he participated in certain activities of the United Nations as a soldier. There was no chance to get into the water. He could not even practice. But he returned to the country in September last year after completing a one and a half year mission. After that he made a record by participating in the first national swimming.
Romana took part in competitive swimming after a long time. And won the gold medal with a record average. Romana is naturally happy with such a feat, 'This is my first competition after returning from the UN mission in Sudan. It's great to be able to get my performance back after so much time off.'
Romana had no opportunity to practice in Sudan, 'couldn't stay in training at that time. It can be said that I was completely away from swimming. Because I used to do all the activities of the UN (United Nations). But the physical training of our army, morning PT, running, jogging, light stretching – I tried to use these to maintain fitness.
He said that he missed swimming very much at that time, 'Swimming is my love. I really missed swimming then.'
Since 2008, Romana has regularly participated in age-based and national swimming. But this time he took 1 minute 18.27 seconds to win the gold. Maryam Khatun set a record in this event in 2021. Romana was very happy to break her record, 'I have never done the timing I did in my career. Glad to be able to do it after a gap of 4 years. I am satisfied with my timing.'
Although international medals are not possible at this timing, he said, 'It is not possible to win medals in international competitions. Because others get more opportunities than our country. They train a lot. Much progress has been made. But if I try to do better with it, that would be great.'
Romana's best success was in 2016. Seber won a record 5 golds in all events. But now he wants to focus only on the breaststroke, 'now I want to focus on the 100m, 200m and 50m breaststroke.'
Mahfuza Khatun won gold in the last SA Games in swimming in 2016. Romana dreams of winning gold in the SA Games again, 'If I get proper practice and a foreign coach, I can also win gold in the SA Games.'
Romana has no father. Mother is alive. He is the only government employee in a single family of 4 sisters and 6 brothers. The brothers run their own business. But Romana is happy to hand over her earnings to her mother, 'I have been sending money to my mother since I got a job. This is how I want to support the family. This is my joy, love.'
Earlier, the sponsor Max Group chairman and senior vice-president of the federation Engineer Golam Mohammad Alamgir inaugurated the national swimming at 3 pm.
