Muhammad Sharif Tahir bags silver for Pakistan in 74kg freestyle wrestling final at CWG 2022

Published August 6, 2022
Pakistani wrestler Muhammad Sharif Tahir at the semifinal of the 74-kilogramme freestyle category at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday. — DawnNewsTV
Pakistani wrestler Muhammad Sharif Tahir at the semifinal of the 74-kilogramme freestyle category at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday. — DawnNewsTV
Pakistani wrestler Muhammad Sharif Tahir at the semifinal of the 74-kilogramme freestyle category at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday. — DawnNewsTV
Pakistani wrestler Muhammad Sharif Tahir at the semifinal of the 74-kilogramme freestyle category at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday. — DawnNewsTV

Wrestler Muhammad Sharif Tahir bagged the silver medal for Pakistan in the final of the 74-kilogramme freestyle category at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday.

He lost 9-0 to India's Naveen in the final, who won through a victory by point, without any point scored by Tahir.

Tahir reached the finals after beating his opponent — New Zealand’s Cole Hawkins — 11-0 through a victory by technical superiority, without any point scored by the latter.

Earlier this week, Nooh Dastagir Butt sma­shed the Common­wealth Games record and earned a gold medal for Pakistan.

On the sixth day of competition in Birmingham, it was Butt’s breathtaking lift that delivered the gold, the 23-year-old improving on his bronze at the previous edition of the Games in Australia’s Gold Coast four years ago.

He had signalled his intent to win gold from the start of the men’s +109kg weightlifting final when he was imperious in the scratch — first lifting 170kg and then improving it to 173kg in his second attempt.

A botched attempt at 175kg didn’t matter. He led the field halfway through the final, with New Zealander David Andrew Liti (170kg) second and India’s Gurdeep Singh in a tie for the third spot with Gordon Shaw at 167kg.

Butt then obliterated the field in the clean and jerk session, twice beating marks of 218kg and 224kg by Liti, as well as a lift of 223kg by Gurdeep, by lifting 225kg in his first attempt and then a massive 232kg to finish with a total of 405kg. He bettered the record of 403kg set by Liti on the way to gold four years ago.

Hours earlier, judoka Shah Hussain had gotten Pakistan off the mark on the medals table when he won bronze in the men’s -90kg category at the Coventry Stadium.

The 29-year-old Shah Hussain, the son of Pakistan’s legendary boxer Hussain Shah, overwhelmed South African Thomas-Laszlo Breyytenbach by ippon — the highest score a fighter can achieve — in their bronze medal bout.

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...