‘PWF will try to field top weightlifters in all remaining Olympic qualifiers’

KARACHI: Pakistan Weightlifting Federation’s (PWF) secretary Amjad Amin Butt on Tuesday said that they would make efforts to field the country’s leading weightlifters in the remaining four events in the next few months which serve as qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.“We still have four events as qualifiers for Olympics and we will try to field in them both Nooh Dastgir Butt and Talha Talib so that they could press for their Olympic seats,” Butt told ‘The News’ in an interview.Nooh and Talha, both bronze medallists of 2018 Commonwealth Games, featured in the recent Asian Championships in China. Nooh finished seventh in the +105 kilogramme competitions, while Talha ended eighth in the 67 kilogramme category.This was the fourth qualifying event in which the duo featured. Every event helps an athlete secure points and at the end of the qualifying stage which is April 30, 2020, the athletes who will feature in Olympics will be known through ranking.As per rules in each weight category 14 weightlifters will make it to the Olympics. Out of them eight will be the world’s leading weightlifters and five, one each from the five continents, will qualify for the world’s prestigious event.The 14th place in each category will be allocated either to the hosts Japan or through the tripartite commission which awards spots to small countries having very few athletes across the entire Olympic Games. However, Japan are still eligible to earn spots by being in the top eight of the world ranking. Thus, in case this last spot goes vacant in any category, it will be allocated based on world ranking to a country without a single other weightlifter at Tokyo.However, due to sanctions of different kinds on various nations from the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) there will be ample chance for those weightlifters who are beyond world’s leading eight and continental best to make it to the Olympics. The PWF believes that both Nooh and Talha could qualify.“Yes, I believe that they can qualify as there is ample chance,” Butt said. However, he was quick to add that it would be of immense importance if the state helped the federation in the cause. “You know it needs a lot of money if you are to field your athletes in eight international events on the trot. If your athlete misses even one event it creates problem for him. So it’s important to field him in every event, which is not possible without contribution from the state,” Butt said.Commonwealth Senior Championships, World Championships, 6th Qatar International Cup and Asian Championships are the events in which Pakistan are to field their weightlifters.Butt said that if the government helped the federation, it would help it field some more top weightlifters in the qualifiers. “By doing so we will be able to provide exposure to our future stars. It will help them develop for future mega events,” Butt said.In order to restrict doping in the sport, IWF has taken many steps. One of these steps is restricting Olympic participation of countries based on their doping record. As a result, the IWF has introduced the following rules for Tokyo qualification.Any country with 20+ doping sanctions (handed out by an international authority) from the start of Beijing 2008 to the end of Tokyo 2020 qualification, will be eligible to send only one male and one female lifter to Tokyo.Any country with 10-19 doping sanctions in the same period will be eligible to send two male and two female lifters. Any country with 30+ doping sanctions may be suspended from competing at Tokyo altogether. If a country’s federation or anti-doping authority catches and punishes its athletes before they are caught in international competition, then there is no adverse effect on the country.

from The News International - Sports http://bit.ly/2IRjxla