ISLAMABAD, Nov 12: Irfan Islam of Railways shattered five records and Wapda’s Shujauddin Malik broke four more as the 25th Quaid-i-Azam weightlifting championship made an explosive start Monday at the Pakistan Sports Complex.

In all 10 records were bettered, the 10th falling to Shahbaz Abdullah Butt of Wapda, which finished the day with a tally of 34 points ahead of Railways who had 28.

The 69kgs weight category in this silver jubilee edition of the championship witnessed a high quality competition in which Internationals Irfan and Shahbaz excelled. But eventually it was Irfan who won with a total of 305 kgs leaving Shahbaz in second place.

Irfan’s snatches of 135.5 kgs, 137.5 kgs, jerk of 168.5 kgs and total of 302.5 kgs and 305 kgs were all new records. On the other hand Shahbaz’s jerk of 168 kgs was also a new record.

As many as six records were established in the 69 kgs category in which the previous best snatch of 135 kgs was also achieved by Irfan while the jerk record of 167.5 kgs and total of 297.5 were both held by Shahbaz.

Shujauddin proved just too good in the 77 kgs weight category and won with a total of 325 kgs and in so doing created four new records. He bettered the previous bests with a snatch of 145.5 kgs, jerk of 180.5 kgs and totals of 322.5 kgs and 325 kgs.

Awais Akbar of Railways with a snatch of 145 kgs was the previous record holder while Shujauddin held the past bests with jerk of 180 kgs and total of 320 kgs.

Army’s Naveed Ashraf Malik took second position in the 77 kgs category with 275 kgs while Khurrum Shahzad of UGC claimed the third spot with 247.5 kgs.

Wapda’s International Akbar Ali captured the 56kgs weight category, his total of 222.5 kgs being way ahead of second placed Javed Asghar of Railways who had 207.5 kgs. Punjab’s Usman Ghani, with 197.5 kgs was third.

The 62 kgs category was a cakewalk for Railway’s Tanveer Sultan who won with a total of 252.5 kgs while Muhammad Ali of Wapda who had 235 kgs was second and Talib Hussain was third with a total of 227.5 kgs.

Brig. Saulat Abbas, Director General of the Pakistan Sports Board inaugurated the championship which on Tuesday will see competitions in 85 kgs, 94 kgs, 105 kgs and +105 kgs weight categories.

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