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| Talha Talib at Tokyo Olympics 2021 |
The 21 year old, Pakistani weightlifter Talha Talib finished on 5th spot in 67 kg weightlifting competition in Tokyo Olympics 2020 after giving Goosebumps to whole nation in Pakistan.
Talha Talib led the gold medal race for a while before being beaten in the final attempts by athletes from China, Colombia, and Italy. Despite the fact that the 21-year-old weightlifter entered the competition without a coach, he showed alot of grit as he made whole nation proud.
Talha fell while attempting 166kg in the clean and jerk for the first time after lifting 150kg in the snatch lift. In his final attempt, he lifted 170kg for a total lift of 320kg.
Talha Talib's inspirational life story in an interview with BBC:
Interview of @talha_tlb highlighting the challenges faced during his training/ preparation for the competition.
— Discover Pakistan 🇵🇰 | پاکستان (@PakistanNature) July 25, 2021
I hope this doesn’t fade away and athletes like him are supported #TalhaTalib #Pakistan #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/rnl95Rk8Mu
On the board, Talha remained in first place until Korea's Han Mayekon lifted 174kg in the clean and jerk lift to knock Talha out of second place. In the clean and jerk move, Colombia's Luis Javier lifted 180kg and Italy's Zalmi Mirko lifted 177kg to push Talha further down. Chen Lijun of China, on the other hand, won the gold medal in the clean and jerk with a lift of 187kg which is a new Olympic record.
Talha, a Commonwealth Games gold medalist, finished fifth in the competition. Despite the fact that he did not win a medal, he received widespread praise for his outstanding performance.
Here is how Pakistani athletes and celebrities praised Talha talib on his heroic performance in Tokyo Olympic 2021:
It’s the determination and will to win that matters. Hero is born. We are proud of u #TalhaTalib. #OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/aC6mzwMDhH
— Senator Dr. Shahzad Waseem (@dswpti) July 25, 2021
Hugely proud of #TalhaTalib at the #Olympics !
— Sayed Z Bukhari (@sayedzbukhari) July 25, 2021
His performance calls for much needed attention & reforms for sports. Finishing just short of medal with meagre resources is very impressive…well done Talha for making us all proud ! 🇵🇰🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/y3zxMt8mKZ
You’ve made us all very very proud! #TalhaTalib 🙌🏼🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/nblmscSCsj
— Mahira Khan (@TheMahiraKhan) July 25, 2021
Ur passion & hard work leads u to be a Achiever. Congratulations #TalhaTalib 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 #Olympics . U made Pakistan 🇵🇰 proud. Ppl or federations not supporting Athletes like u by not providing necessary facilities should be accountable pic.twitter.com/GjxsAmFEJQ
— Mohammad Hafeez (@MHafeez22) July 25, 2021
Within the next year, I pledge to set up a fund for Pakistan’s Olympic’s athletes in preparation for the next Olympics. Looking at people like Talha Talib, we all should play our part in supporting Pakistan’s heroes. Please join me for Pakistan. #SKOlympicsFund #PakistanZindabad
— Shadab Khan (@76Shadabkhan) July 25, 2021
There are countless tweets in support of Pakistani weightlifter but we can't show all of them here.
In an interview prior to the Olympics, Talha stated that the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had not organised any weightlifting training camps in the previous three years.
In the absence of an adequate facility provided by the PSB, Talha had to train in a makeshift gym in the courtyard of a school in Gujranwala.
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