‘State funding must for weightlifters’ Olympics bid’

KARACHI: Pakistan Weightlifting Federation (PWF) on Tuesday urged the government to support its bid for fielding top two weightlifters, Nooh Dastagir Butt and Talha Talib, in Olympic qualifiers which have already started.

“Both Nooh and Talha have bright chances of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” PWF secretary Amjad Amin Butt told ‘The News’.“But I must make it clear that it would not be possible without the support of the state. I request the government to come forward and back us,” he added.

Nooh and Talha have reached very close to the Olympic qualifying standard. “They have reached very close to their targets. But what is needed is state support so that we could field them in maximum international events during the next one and a half years. The qualifiers which have already started will last till April or May of 2020,” Amjad said. “Nooh’s personal best jerk of 240kg is very close to that of Olympians,” the official said.

“Last month in the Quaid-e-Azam event, Talha lifted 143kg in snatch which is his personal best,” Amjad added.Another PWF official revealed that Talha’s last month’s effort was also unofficially the Commonwealth Seniors record.

The two young weightlifters have consistently performed well at international level, both at juniors and seniors events. They won gold medals at the Commonwealth Junior Championships and clinched bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Australia last year.

Nooh also has to his credit a gold medal in clean and jerk and a bronze in total in World Junior Championship. “The best thing about both these athletes is that they have been improving their performance with the passage of time. We had planned in 2014 that Pakistan would qualify for the 2020 Olympics. We are doing everything on our own for the development of our weightlifters but we don’t have sponsors and without state support it is not possible to produce desired results,” Amjad stressed.

Nooh plays in +109kg category, while Talha features in 62kg category. As the 62kg has been changed to 67kg, Talha will now move to that weight.“It’s good for Talha that his weight has been changed. He is young and growing in weight and the new weight will help him,” Amjad said. Another senior official of PWF also revealed that International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) chief Tamas Ajan, who is from Hungary, had been impressed by Talha’s performance in snatch.

“After seeing Talha in the Commonwealth Games in Australia last year Ajan told a senior official of PWF Hafiz Imran Butt that if any weightlifter wanted to learn he should watch Talha’s videos of snatch,” the official recalled.

PWF is one of the 14 federations whose forensic audit is being conducted these days. Because of the audit and state’s initiatives to bring some improvement in the basic structure of sports not a single federation has been issued any grant for the last six months by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).

The PSB itself is also set to be inspected by the Prime Minister Inspection Commission (PMIC) in the next few days.Because of these issues, most of the federations are facing difficulties in preparing for Tokyo 2020 qualifiers.