MANCHESTER, July 30: Malyasia’s Amirul Hamizan Ibrahim enjoyed a flying start by picking up three gold medals in the first event of the Commonwealth Games weightlifting competition here Tuesday.

The 21-year-old, taking part in the 56kg division, lifted a combined total of 260kg to set a new Games record passing the previous best of 245kg set by India’s Arumugam Pandian in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

Ibrahim saw off a determined challenge from India’s Thandava Muthu, who took silver with 245kg, and Vickey Batta who won bronze with a combined lift of 242.5kg.

The Malaysian, who lives in the tiny fishing village of Rompin, also picked up new Games records with 115kg in the snatch and 145kg in the clean and jerk.

“I am very pleased to have won. I wasn’t expecting more than one gold - in the clean and jerk - so it has been a very good start,” said Ibrahim who had gone into the comeptition worried that a shoulder injury picked up in Indonesia while training could have affected his chances.

His triple-gold haul gives Malaysia a great chance of bettering their performance in Kuala Lumpur when they won ten weightlifting golds.—AFP