Govt urged to back ‘lifters Nooh and Talha for Olympic qualifiers

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

“Both Nooh and Talha have bright chance of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But I would 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 in the cause,” PWF secretary Amjad Amin Butt told ‘The News’. Both Nooh and Talha have been Pakistan’s bright prospects. The duo 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 year. The qualifiers, which have already started, will last till April-May 2020,” Butt said.

“Nooh’s personal best jerk of 240kg is very close to the Olympians,” the official said.“Last month in the Quaid-i-Azam event Talha lifted 143kg in snatch which is also his personal best,” Butt said.

Another PWF official, while adding to this, revealed that Talha’s last month’s effort was also unofficially the Commonwealth Seniors record. The young duo are consistently performing in international level, both at junior and senior. Besides having won gold medals in the Commonwealth Junior Championships they also lifted bronze in the Commonwealth Games in Australia last year.

Nooh also has to his credit a gold in clean and jerk and bronze in total in World Junior Championship. “The best thing about both the 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 on our own are doing everything for the development of our weightlifters but you know we don’t have sponsors and without state support it is not possible to produce desired results,” Butt stressed.

Nooh plays in +109kg while Talha features in the 62kg. However as the 62kg has been changed to 67kg so Talha will now move to that weight.