Nooh finishes seventh at Asian Weightlifting C’ships

KARACHI: Pakistan’s premier weightlifter Nooh Dastgir Butt on Sunday failed to live up to billing when he finished at the seventh spot in the +109 kilogramme weight category competitions of the Asian Weightlifting Championships in China.

Nooh, the bronze medallist of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, recorded a total of 395kg (175kg+ 220kg) to finish seventh out of ten competitors. “It was not a good effort, I think,” Pakistan Weightlifting Federation’s (PWF) secretary Amjad Amin Butt told ‘The News’.

“Although Nooh met his personal best in snatch, he fell short of his personal best in clean and jerk,” Butt said. However, he was quick to add that there was no state-sponsored camp and that was the main reason behind the performance.

Nooh attempted 180kg in snatch but failed to lift. He tried to lift 232kg in clean and jerk but that attempt also failed. Iran’s Ali Davoudi won gold with a total of 432kg, Chinese Taipei’s Chen Shih-Chieh (422kg) claimed silver, while Turkmenistan’s Hojamuhammet Toychyye took bronze with 421kg.

India’s Gurdeep Singh finished ninth with a total of 375kg. Talha Talib, another Pakistani in the competitions, had already finished eighth overall in the 67 kg category. He has also returned home. Ali Aslam was accompanying both the weightlifters as a coach.