Tokyo
Young weightlifter Talha Talib narrowly missed out on winning an Olympic medal for Pakistan.
The 21-year-old finished fifth in the 67kg category with an overall impressive lifting of 320 KG of weight.
In the snatch round, Talib finished second on the table after lifting 150 KG weight whereas in the Clean & Jerk round, the Gujranwala-born—despite failing in the first attempt—managed to lift 170 KG weight in the third attempt.
Talha — who was making his first appearance at Olympic — previously won a gold medal for Pakistan in the 2016 Commonwealth Youth Championships in Penang, Malaysia whereas he also won a silver at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Apia in Samoa.
China’s Chen Lijun managed to win the gold medal with collective weightlifting of 332 KGs whereas Columbia’s Mosquera Lozano Luis Javier and Italy’s Zanni Mirko finished on the second and third spot after lifting weights of 331 and 322 KGs.
Pakistan cricket team allrounder Shadab Khan said “Pakistan is proud of Talha Talib” as he urged “sponsors and sports administration to help athletes like Talha”.
Pakistan Women’s team member Javeria Khan said: “Win or lose, you have already made Pakistan proud.”
Pakistan Super League franchise Islamabad United’s General Manager Rehanul Haq shared an interesting bit about Talib.
TV anchor Gharidah Farooqi said that Talib’s fifth-place finish was “no small feat given how this sports is neglected in Pakistan as compared to cricket”.
Sports reporter Faizan Lakhani explained how Talib’s journey was an against-the-odds story as “Talha wasn’t provided any special training programme even after his qualification.”
Vetaran journalist Aalia Rasheed spoke for everyone as she tweeted: “Still proud of you Talha Talib!”
Test cricketer Azhar Ali said that Talib’s performance “shows that if we invest more time and money into our athletes, they can do wonders.—AP
