Know Our Tokyo Olympians: Junayna Ahmed

Junayna Ahmed is a 18 years old British Bangladeshi freestyle swimmer who was born and raised in London. Her study and swimming both are continuing in the UK. Junayna has a huge passion for 50m freestyle swimming. She participated in the World Swimming Championship as the Bangladeshi athlete. Even though she has some medals in the National Swimming Championship of Bangladesh and her first win came in 2017. It’s worth mentioning that Junayna Ahmed is the first wildcard holder to enter the Tokyo Olympic 2020 Games.

Biography of the Swimmer Junayna Ahmed

• Name – Junayna Ahmed
• Age – 18
• Date of Birth – 30 Jun 2003
• Gender – Female
• Place of Birth – London
• Birth Country – Great Britain
• Place of Residence – London
• Residence Country – Great Britain

Career Info of Junayna Ahmed

• Occupation – Athlete
• Club name – Romford Town Swimming Club (London, GBR)
• Coach – Nivedita Das (National)
• Sporting Start – National age-group swimming in 2016
• Training – French Solidarity Scholarship Program in Rouen
• Ambition – Medalist of the Tokyo Olympic 2020 Games

Records and Achievements of Junayna Ahmed

Junayna Ahmed participated in the 50m freestyle swimming competition of the World Swimming Championship held in Gwangju, Korea. Her best timing was 30.96 seconds. Junayna also attained 200m butterfly swimming while her best timing was 2 minutes 34.95 seconds. At this event she was 32th among 33 participants. Even though Junayna has a record of 2 minutes 34.14 seconds in national competition.

So many medals have been achieved by this 18 years old athlete in the international arena. Junayna achieved bronze medals in women’s 400m individual medley, 800m freestyle and 200m butterfly swimming events in the South Asian Games 2019 held in Nepal.

Junayna’s parents moved to London, England in 2001 from Sunamganj, Bangladesh. Along with Ariful Islam, Junayna Ahmed has been training in the Ruar Club The Fiking Swimming Complex of Rouen, France facilitated by the solidarity scholarship program since 2018.

Know Our Tokyo Olympians: Ariful Islam

Ariful Islam aka Mohammed Ariful Islam is a 22 years old Bangladeshi navy freestyle swimmer. He appeared in the Tokyo Olympic 2020 through wildcard entry. He is the luckiest 50m freestyle swimmer selected by Bangladesh Swimming Federation. Swimming federation nominated Ariful’s name to the International Olympic Committee and FINA via the National Olympic Committee and Bangladesh Olympic Association. It’s mention worthy that MD Ariful Islam is the proud Bangladeshi flag holder of the Tokyo Olympic 2020 tournament.

Biography of the Swimmer Ariful Islam

• Name – Mohammad Ariful Islam
• Age – 22 Years
• Date of Birth – 10 January 1999
• Height – 1.72m
• Weight – 62kg
• Country – Bangladesh

Career Info of Ariful Islam

• Occupation – Armed Forces Athlete
• Club – Bangladesh Navy
• Coach – Mahbubur Rahman (club) & Nivedita Das (national)
• Training – Olympic Solidarity Scholarship Programme training in Rouen, France since 2018
• Award – Flag bearer for Bangladesh at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020
• Sporting Sibling – Brother Shariful Islam, swimmer at national level in Bangladesh

Records and Achievements of MD Ariful Islam

Being a successful Bangladeshi freestyle swimmer, Ariful Islam participated in the 100 meter breaststroke competition at FINA World Championship organized by South Korea. He was able to secure 78th place among 87 in that competitive tournament. His best timing of all time is 24.92 seconds from this swimming championship. Will he be able to overcome this timing in the Tokyo Olympics?

In Bangladeshi National Championship, Ariful Islam is the proud winner of the 10 gold medels. In 2014, he was able to perform 100m breaststroke at 1 minute 7 second timing. Now he can make it within 1 minute 2 seconds though he is trying hard to achieve 59 seconds timing in 100m breaststroke. Now Ariful Islam is pretty much confident to break his previous record 24.92 seconds for 50m freestyle swimming at Tokyo Olympics.

To prepare himself for the Tokyo Olympic Games, he trained for 2 years in the Ruar Club The Fiking Swimming Complex of Rouen, France facilitated by the solidarity scholarship program.

Know Our Tokyo Olympians: Abdullah Hel Baki

After a delay of one year due to a raging pandemic, the biggest sports competition in the world has finally commenced. The Tokyo Olympics 2020 has started and Bangladesh has sent her best athletes and performers to the Olympics. We will be looking into the six participants representing Bangladesh at Tokyo Olympics. Today, we will be looking at a veteran of shooting and an olympian who has graced the stage once before. We will be looking at a flag bearer, Abdullah Hel Baki.

Personal Information

Abdullah Hel Baki, is in true form a veteran among Bangladeshi shooters. Born on August 1, 1989 in Gazipur, Abdullah Hel Baki has always had his sights on sports. He works in the Bangladesh Navy and also competes in shooting competitions all around the world. He also had his sights set on sports even in his education. He earned a degree in sports studies from the Uttara University in Dhaka.

In Shooting

Like the focused shooter, he also set his goals pretty early. He has been practicing shooting since 2006 and has been participating in competitions, local and global, since 2008. He is a left eye and right hand orthadox shooter. He cites Indian shooter Gagan Narang as his sporting hero. His event of choice is the 10m Air Rifle.

Accomplishments

He has had quite a career in the 10m air rifle event throughout his career. He won the event in the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku in 2017. Baki is a regular participant in international competitions. His participation and ranking in International competitions include:

• Rio Olympics 2016 (25th)
• Asian Games 2018, Indonesia (19th)
• 2010 World Cup, Munich (32nd)

Baki has been the flag bearer for Bangladesh in previous events. These include the Commonwealth Games in 2018 in Australia and the Asian Games in 2014 in South Korea. As a veteran and experienced shooter Abdullah Hel Baki stands among the best shooters of Bangladesh.

He lists winning the World Championship and representing Bangladesh in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as his dream. Baki has certainly achieved the latter. Let us cheer for Abdullah Hel Baki and the other Olympians as they hold the Bangladeshi flag high in the Tokyo olympics.