With the inspiring slogan, 'Sports as a profession, family gets protection’ the national level swimming competition of 'Natun Kuri Sports 2025-2026' was held in a festive atmosphere at the National Swimming Complex, Mirpur on Tuesday.

The State Minister for Youth and Sports Md. Aminul Haque officially inaugurated the national phase.

The State Minister for Youth and Sports was accompanied by the Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Md. Mahbub-ul-Alam as special guests at the inauguration ceremony. Additional Secretary Amena Begum, Additional Secretary Mahfuzul Alam Khan and General Secretary of the Swimming Federation Syed Aminul Haque Dewan Sajal were also present.

Speaking as the chief guest at the event, State Minister for Sports Md. Aminul Haque said that the ‘program was officially inaugurated from Sylhet on May 1 under the overall guidance and supervision of Honorable Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. After successfully completing the divisional phase at the upazila and district levels, the final games at the national level are now being held.

Emerging young swimmers from different parts of the country impressed the audience by displaying their great speed, technique and skills in the pool.

In the most interesting event of the competition, 50 meter freestyle (boys' category), Md. Sohan of Dhaka impressed everyone by winning first place with a time of just 00:28:30 seconds. In this category, Rafin Islam (00:28:74 seconds) of Khulna came second and Md. Ijazul (00:28:93 seconds) came third.

Khulna's Tisha Khatun won the first place in the 50-meter breaststroke (girls' category), Sadia Khatun of the same region won the second place and Tithi Moni Shil of Dhaka won the third place.

On the other hand, in the 50-meter backstroke (boys' category), Khulna's Rafin Islam won the first place with a time of 00:34:18 seconds. In this category, Raisul Islam of Rajshahi won the second place with a time of 00:35:42 seconds and Nayan Hossain of the same region won the third place with a time of 00:35:65 seconds.

Khulna's Mosha Nijhum Khatun won the first place in the 50-meter butterfly event in the girls' category, while Yubraj Sen of Rajshahi won the first place in the 50-meter breaststroke event in the boys' category.