Rony balances pride and regret on world stage

Representing the national team at an international event is a matter of pride for any athlete. The same holds true for hurdler Najimul Hossain Rony, who is set to compete in the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships on Monday in Tokyo, Japan.

However, along with pride, Rony also carries a sense of regret.

"It has really been an honour to represent the country at the international level, but we usually can't give back anything to the nation despite trying our best in these world-class meets. It is more of a regret than a bad feeling," Rony told The Daily Star over phone, reflecting on the struggles of Bangladeshi athletes on the global stage.

The 26-year-old hurdler's appearance in Tokyo will mark only his second international meet, following his debut at the Asian Athletics Championships last March in South Korea. Rony was selected for the national team after setting a new record at the National Athletics Championships in February.

Although competing against the world's best may seem daunting, Rony has set his sights on using his experience at the World Athletics Championships, which gets underway on Saturday, as preparation for the upcoming South Asian Games.

"What I achieved at the national or Asian Athletics Championships is far from international standard, but I think I can repay the nation in the South Asian Games if I improve on my national-record timing of 50.84 seconds," he said, adding that he would be happy if he could better that mark in Tokyo.

"I know it will be tough to achieve something big with my current timing [50.84], but I need to bring it down to around 49.20 or 49.30 seconds for the South Asian Games," the Bogura-born athlete said. "Of course, this is possible if I get proper training facilities under a foreign coach, along with a proper diet."

Rony clocked 52.39 seconds at the Asian Athletics Championships in March before producing 52.30 seconds (hand-timed) last month at the Summer Athletics Championships – a competition before which the Bangladesh Army man went through a knee injury that saw him refrain from training for nearly 12 days.

In Japan, he will undergo three days of official training starting today before stepping on the track on Monday. However, he kept himself active by warming up and running in open spaces around his hotel in Tokyo.

Rony's rise has not been easy. He began competing in the National Athletics Championships only in 2022, five years after joining the Bangladesh Army. He first caught the attention of selectors in 2018 through inter-unit competitions but had to wait until 2021 to earn a call-up to the Army athletics team.

Since then, Rony has not looked back, winning gold in the 400m sprint at the 45th National Athletics Championships before switching to the 400m hurdles -- an event in which he has now claimed three successive national gold medals.