Commonwealth Games: Pakistan weightlifters leave for Australia

KARACHI: Hoping to spring surprise at the Commonwealth Games, Pakistan’s weightlifting squad was scheduled to leave for Australia early this morning (today) from Islamabad.

The Games will be formally opened on April 4 at Gold Coast, Queensland.Nooh Dastagir Butt (+105kg), Abu Sufyan (69kg), Talha Talib (62kg), Usman Amjad Rathore (94kg) and Abdullah Ghafoor (56kg) are the weightlifters.

They are being accompanied by coaches Ali Aslam and Ilyas Butt. Jameel Akhtar (105kg) and Haider Ali (77kg) failed to make their places in the touring party due to fitness issues.“We had kept them in reserve but we did not consider them ultimately due to fitness issues,” Pakistan Weightlifting Federation (PWF) secretary Amjad Amin Butt told ‘The News’ on Monday.

“You know weightlifting is the most sensitive game; even a minor injury to an athlete can hamper his performance,” the official said.He said that they did not want to waste the money of the country and opted to send only five weightlifters.

As per reservation details checked by this correspondent the squad was scheduled to leave at 3:05am from the federal capital on Tuesday (today) through Qatar Airways which will reach Gold Coast at 10:40am local time on Wednesday (tomorrow) after stop-overs at Doha and Sydney.

The weightlifters will get at least a week to acclimatise with the local conditions. “”Yes, it’s good that our athletes will reach well in advance. They will get enough time to not only get acclimatised but will also do training for three to four days which will help them,” Butt said.

Of the five weightlifters only Abu Sufyan has the experience of playing at this level — he appeared in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He had not done well that time but the PWF official said that he has improved a lot. “He is now a totally different athlete, having improved a great deal,” Butt said. He added that he was expecting some fine performances from his athletes. “I hope they will do well. Two of our athletes will fight for gold and the rest will fight for silver and bronze medals,” Butt said.

When asked whether he is satisfied with the preparation of his weightlifters for the major spectacle Butt replied in affirmative. “Yes, we did our best to train our athletes with whatever facilities we had. We have been very meticulous in our approach; proper training has been imparted to the boys. Let’s see what happens,” the official added.

The whole lot has the experience of playing in the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships at both senior and junior levels and has also won medals at that stage. The weightlifting competitions will be held from April 5 to 9. The team will return to Lahore on April 12.

In 2014 Glasgow Games Mohammad Shehzad (56kg) narrowly missed a silver medal, finishing at the fourth place.An 87-member contingent of Pakistan is set to feature in ten disciplines. Only shooting competitions will be held in Brisbane. The slots of the remaining disciplines will be conducted in Gold Coast which has started receiving competitors from 71 nations and territories of six continents.