BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan will begin its weightlifting journey in the Commonwealth Games when the country’s gutsy weightlifter Haider Ali competes in the 81 kilogramme event here at the NEC hall on Monday (today).
Haider has been a fantastic weightlifter and is expected to pull off some surprise in the event.
Pakistan is fielding three weightlifters in the quadrennial spectacle. Nooh Dastgir Butt, a bronze medallist at the last edition of the Commonwealth Games, and his brother Hanzala Dastgir will showcase their skills in 109kg and plus 109kg on August 3.
A senior official of Pakistan Weightlifting Federation (PWLF) told 'The News' that Haider may press for the third place.
“According to the start-list I can assess that he may fight for the third or the fourth place,” the official said.
“Hanzala will also fight for the third or fourth place. Nooh will, however, fight for gold,” the official added.
Weightlifting has been one of the major games of Pakistan but a few months ago it was hit hard by a doping scandal.
The country’s premier weightlifter and Tokyo Olympics fifth position holder Talha Talib, Abu Bakar Ghani and Sharjeel Butt, who all had qualified for the Commonwealth Games, were dropped after it was known that they had violated doping regulations. These three and three others remain under the scanner of the International Testing Agency (ITA).