Weightlifter Nooh Dastgir won the first gold medal for Pakistan in Birmingham Commonwealth Games with a record lift of 405kg on Wednesday. In the men’s in 109+ kg category, the 24-year-old lifted 173kg in the first snatch, while in Clean and Jerk, he lifted 232kg, totaling 405 kg, to win the first gold for the country.
He had secured a bronze medal for Pakistan in 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Earlier, Pakistan opened its medal account in Commonwealth Games as judoka Shah Hussain Shah downed his South African opponent to secure the bronze medal.
Shah entered the bronze medal bout after losing his first round earlier in the 90kg category. This was his first ever 90kg event as the Pakistani player has always played in the 100kg category.
He was up against South Africa’s Thomas-Laszlo Breytnbach for the medal contest. After initial hiccups, Shah successfully downed his opponent to win the contest on ippon in less than three minutes.
This is Pakistan’s first medal in the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and Shah’s second medal in the event. He had earlier won a silver medal in the 2014 edition of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The 20-year-old son of Olympic bronze medalist boxer Hussain Shah has also won two gold medals for Pakistan in the South Asian Games.
This comes a day after Hussain Shah said he expected his son to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games judo competitions.
Hussain is the only Pakistani boxer who claimed bronze in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
