Pakistan to feature in Asian weightlifting

Postponement of event from July to September has allowed the team to prepare better

KARACHI: Pakistani athletes will feature in the 45th Asian Senior Men’s Weightlifting Championships, with Pakistan Weightlifting Federation (PWF) Vice-President Rashid Muhammad claiming that the postponement of the event from July to September has helped their side’s preparations.

The championship was earlier scheduled to begin in Kathmandu on July 22 but Nepal gave away their event to Thailand due to the devastating earthquake that hit the original hosts earlier this year.

The championship will now take place on September 3 in Phuket. “We are prepared for the championship,” PWF vice-president told The Express Tribune. “But there is a change in the schedule and now we’ll continue with our camp till September — we have four boys who will compete in the championship. In the men’s event, we get tough competition from central Asian countries and India; they are ahead of us at
the regional level. But we have more time to prepare now.”

Rashid said that Pakistani weightlifters have high morale for the four upcoming international championships this year — the Asian Championship, the Commonwealth Championship, the Commonwealth Youth Games and the South Asian Games.

He said that Abdul Rehman and Nooh Dastagir Butt made the country proud in January when they won a gold medal in Doha — claiming the top spot at an international event after 39 years.

“Rehman and Nooh are confirmed for the Asian Championships, meanwhile we also have Abu Sufyan and Muhammad Shahzad. We are confident that our players can give tough competition to their opponents,” said Rashid.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2015.

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