Experienced swimmer Kajal Mia and rising star Samiul Islam Rafi stole the spotlight on the opening day of the 34th National Swimming, Diving and Water Polo Championships, sharing three new national records between them at the National Swimming Complex on Monday.

Bangladesh Navy's Kajal Mia set the day's first record in the 200m freestyle, breaking a nine-year-old mark. He eclipsed Mahfizur Rahman Sagar's previous record of 1:58.44 seconds, setting a new benchmark of 1:55.06.

The swimmer from Kishoreganj then went on to better his own record in the 200m butterfly, clocking 2:05.95 seconds to surpass his previous best of 2:09.41 seconds, which he had set at the 2024 national championships.

Rafi, another standout performer, enjoyed an excellent day in the pool, setting two new records. He first broke his own record in the 50m backstroke with a time of 26.05 seconds, improving on his previous best of 26.79. Later, he teamed up with Mahmudun Nabi Nahid, Noor Alam, and Asif Reza in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay, where the quartet clocked 3:32.18 seconds -- erasing the previous record of 3:35.85 set by the Bangladesh Army relay team.

The fifth and final national record of the day came in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay, as Bangladesh Navy's team -- comprising Juthi Akter, Anny Akter, Sonia, and Maiysha -- set a new mark of 4:25.55 seconds, narrowly surpassing the previous best of 4:25.83.

However, all records were timed manually with a stopwatch, as the newly installed electronic timing board has remained out of order for six years.

At the end of the opening day, Bangladesh Navy dominated the medal tally with eight golds, five silvers, and six bronzes, followed by Bangladesh Army, who secured three golds, six silvers, and three bronzes.