Coach Saeed pleased as records tumble

The 34th National Swimming, Diving and Water Polo Championships witnessed three more national records fall on the third day of competition, bringing the total number of new records to 15.

Promising swimmer Samiul Islam Rafi continued his exceptional performance, setting his sixth individual national record at the National Swimming Complex in Mirpur yesterday.

Egyptian swimming coach Saeed Magdy expressed his satisfaction at the steady stream of broken records, despite facing a number of challenges in preparing the national swimmers for the upcoming South Asian Games.

In the day's events, Rafi of Bangladesh Navy improved his own national record in the 100m backstroke, finishing with a time of 00:57.95 seconds -- bettering his previous best of 00:58.45 seconds.

Meanwhile, Tonmoy Mali of Bangladesh Army broke his teammate Sukumar Rajbangshi's record in the 50m breaststroke, clocking 00:29.59 seconds, surpassing the previous record of 00:29.90 seconds.

The third record of the day came in the women's 4x400m freestyle relay. The team of Anny, Rupa, Juthi, and Tumpa clocked 09:50.01 seconds, breaking the previous national record of 09:52.09 seconds.

While observing the competition, coach Saeed made a point of personally engaging with the swimmers, offering encouragement and feedback.

"Actually, our swimmers here are hard-working, disciplined, and giving their best. They are improving week by week. At this stage of the competition, many national records have already been broken, which shows real progress," said Saeed, voicing high hopes for both Rafi and Kajol Mia.

"Their qualifications are very good, and I believe in their potential. What they've been missing is high-quality training. Now, with improved support, we can already see how much they are developing. I believe that for next year's Asian competition in Japan, we can have at least two male swimmers -- Rafi and Kajol -- qualify among the top six."

Despite the success, Saeed expressed some frustration over the lack of functional infrastructure, particularly the electronic timing board, which has remained inactive since its installation in 2019.

"I wish we had Omega timing systems here to be more professional and to prepare our swimmers for international-level competitions. Official timings are crucial for international qualification. But for now, we are working with what we have, and doing our best to support the swimmers. That is the main focus," the head coach added.

Since arriving in mid-July, Saeed has been training 38 national swimmers, including 18 women. However, he faces significant difficulties due to the open-roof pool, which hampers training during rain, and poor water quality, which poses health risks.