Best effort not enough for Ariful, Junaina
Bangladesh swimmers Ariful Islam and Junaina Ahmed created personal records but they weren’t enough to reach the next round as both suffered elimination from their respective qualifying event of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
Ariful finished his 50m freestyle race in 24.81 seconds, surpassing his previous best record of 24.92 seconds to finish third among eight swimmers in the men’s 50m freestyle - Heat 4 at Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
However, the 22-year old failed to qualify in the semis (top 16) as he finished 51st among 73 swimmers in the event.
Ariful’s previous best record was made during the FINA World Aquatics Championships in 2019 in South Korea.
Meanwhile, the 18-year old Junaina finished fifth in the women’s 50m freestyle - Heat 3 after managing to end the race in 29.78 seconds.
Overall, Junaina finished 68th among 81 swimmers in her event.
Junaina’s previous best record was 30.96 seconds which she made in FINA World Aquatics Championships in 2019.
It was the first time both the swimmers compete in the Olympics after they received wildcards for the biggest sporting event.
