Talha wins three gold medals in International Solidarity weightlifting

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top weightlifter Talha Talib on Monday won three gold medals in the 67 kilogramme competition of the 6th International Solidarity weightlifting championship in Tashkent.

The event also serves as qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics. Talha secured gold in snatch by lifting 142 kilogramme weight. He also claimed gold in clean and jerk with a weight of 162kg. And the 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist also took gold in total with an aggregate weight of 304kg.

As many as 40 countries are participating in these competitions, including Turkey, Serbia, Libya, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Ghana.

Talha had also won one gold and two silver medals in the last edition held in 2018 in Cairo. “Talha did well,” Pakistan Weightlifting Federation (PWF) secretary Amjad Amin Butt told ‘The News’.

The performance will help Talha secure some good points as he desires to compete for an Olympic seat which is a tough target to achieve. Talha will now feature in the Asian Championships to be held in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan, from April 16-25. And a medal there can help him realise his dream.

Zohaib Manzoor (96kg), the other Pakistani in the event, will compete on Tuesday (today). The country’s prominent weightlifter Nooh Dastgir Butt had to stay away from this event because of injuries.