Pakistan target gold in weightlifting

KARACHI: Pakistan had not picked any medal in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games weightlifting competitions. Faisalabad-born Mohammad Shahzad had come very close to finish with a medal but missed it when he eventually ended fourth in the 56 kilogramme competitions. But this time weightlifting authorities are confident that their weightlifters will be able to clinch a couple of gold medals in the Commonwealth Games slated to be held at Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4-15.

“We target a couple of gold this time,” Pakistan Weightlifting Federation’s (PWF) secretary Amjad Amin Butt told ‘The News’ from Lahore on Tuesday.Although it is yet to be seen how much improvement has made by other nations during the last four years since Glasgow hosted the previous spectacle. But Amin Butt claimed Pakistan has improved a lot.

“Our whole management has worked very hard during the last four years. I am hopeful we will achieve the desired results in Gold Coast competitions,” Butt said.Although PWF has already sent names of the seven weightlifters to the organisers of the Gold Coast Games but the federation plans to hold trials before announcing the squad for the Australia’s tour.

“We are going to hold trials on February 7 in Islamabad which will give us a real picture. Our main priority would be to send those who are capable to perform in Australia. And it would only be decided after trials,” Butt said.

“We can’t replace any one in the list of seven which we have already sent. But we can reduce the squad if any weightlifter is unable to impress the selectors with his fitness and performance in the trials,” Butt said.

Ilyas Butt and Ali Aslam are supervising the camp being in operation at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad.The PWF have kept 14 weightlifters in the camp, two each in each seven groups. As per Commonwealth Games weightlifting rules, a nation can field only one weightlifter in one weight.

Butt also revealed that Pakistan would also be featuring in the Asian Youth and Junior Championships to be held in April in Uzbekistan.“The camp for the said event has already been started at Lahore. It is yet to be decided how many athletes would be sent for the purpose. The event will be held after the Commonwealth Games,” Butt said.

“Apart from these two events, we will feature in Asian Games the coming summer and then it would be seen in how many invitational events we would field our players in 2018,” the PWF official said.

In the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, an 89-member contingent of Pakistan will feature in ten disciplines. These include hockey, athletics, swimming, squash, table tennis, badminton, shooting, boxing, weightlifting and wrestling.

Pakistan had claimed three silvers and one bronze medal in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.The now world’s leading pro boxer Mohammad Waseem (52kg), Olympian judoka Shah Hussain (-100kg) and wrestler Qamar Abbas (74kg, freestyle) had grabbed silvers while wrestler Azhar Hussain had captured bronze in the 57kg freestyle competitions. Azhar had also lifted gold in freestyle and silver in Greco Roman style competitions in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.