Zakir wins silver for India in 77 kg weight category

Melbourne, Mar 19 (UNI) The field was strong, and the stage awesome but Tamil Nadu's Mohd Zakir Asadullah betrayed no sign of nervousness as he lifted 301 kg to give India a silver medal in the 77 kg category of the weightlifting competition of the Commonwealth Games here today.

With this medal, the Indian tally in weightlifting has gone up to six -- two gold, three silver and a bronze.

Majeti Fetrie of Ghana won the gold amid high drama as he lifted 309 kg while Pakistani Mohammad Irfan finished third for a bronze with 299 kg.

However, this was not Zakir's best lift. He had 307 kgs to his credit but this afternoon his performance deserved appreciation because he lifted despite nursing an injury.

''I have no excuse to offer but I was not fully fit. Otherwise I would have gone for higher weight lift in the clean-and-jerk,'' said the lifter.

Zakir had an uneven start as he muffed one of his three lifts in the snatch. He lifted 130 kg but failed with 134 in the second attempt but had a successful third effort with the weight.

Gold medal winner Fetrie led the leaderboard in snatch with a best finish of 135 kg which he achieved in his third lift.

Pakistani Irfan had three fine lifts of 130, 135 and 137 in snatch but he fumbled in clean-and-jerk.

In clean-and-jerk Zakir opted for 167 kg. He failed to lift that in his first attempt but managed to clear in his second. Fetrie went for 168 kg with utmost ease and then raised the weight to 171.

Zakir also asked for 176. The Indian failed to lift that and ended with a total of 301 (134+167).

Fetrie lifted 175 kg but that was disallowed as he took more time then the allotted one to lift. The Ghanaian protested behind the stage but when they saw Zakir failing to lift 176, which would have taken his total to 310, they relented because even with the third failed lift, his total was 309.

''I was aiming for bigger weight but the injury troubled me so I did not go ahead, because I wanted to avoid aggravating my injury,'' Zakir said.

The lifter said he was thrilled to have won a medal for the country.

''It is a great feeling to be on the podium for your country,'' he added.

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