Nooh Butt sets eyes on Paris Olympics after CWG.

BIRMINGHAM -- Pakistan's top weightlifter Nooh Dastgir Butt says he will make it to the 2024 Paris Olympics following a superb gold in the +109 kilogramme category of the weightlifting event of the Commonwealth Games earlier this week.

In an interview with The News, Nooh said: 'Yes, InshaAllah it's my target now and I will make it possible."

Nooh snared Pakistan's first gold in the Commonwealth Games with a solid 405kg effort and set new records in all three categories.

'The journey to Paris has now begun and this event, the coming Islamic Games and around four others will determine the eventual standings for Paris 2024,' Nooh said..

Nooh was a top prospect for Pakistan for the Tokyo Olympics but he was unlucky not to feature in that because of injury. He stayed away from the international circuit for almost two years.

And it was only last year when he staged a solid return and also performed well in the 2021 World Championship in Tashkent where he also qualified for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games by taking silver at the Commonwealth level.

'I am so depressed that I could not feature in the Tokyo Olympics as injury hurt my career at that crucial stage. I still feel very dejected that in Tokyo an Iranian and a Syrian won silver and bronze medals respectively. I have beaten them both,' Nooh said.

Nooh has been awarded an International Olympic Committee (IOC) scholarship and he feels that this will help him in at least ensuring his presence in more qualifying events for the Paris Olympics.

'Yes, I hope so. It will at least enable me to feature in the qualifying events,' he said. About his gold medal in the Commonwealth Games, Nooh said it was something he was looking for.

'I had been looking for a major medal for the last eight years but could not get that due to various issues.

In the last Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in 2018, I went all out but a mis-lift denied me the chance to win...

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