LAHORE – Last week, two Pakistani female powerlifters – Twinkle Sohail and Saniha Ghafoor – brought glory to Pakistan by securing four gold medals each in their respective categories during Oceania Pacific Powerlifting Championship in ark Avenue Convention Centre in Singapore.
But, many publications did not do them justice and wrongly used photos of another Pakistani weightlifter, Maryam Nasim.
Talking to Mangobaaz, an online media portal, Ms Nasim has now shared how she felt about her picture mistaken for the other athletes.
“Well, honestly, I wasn’t too happy about it. Firstly, because I felt bad for the person who deserved to be in the photo, and secondly because my photos were used for something not related to me. I got to know about it when people started tagging me in the posts on social media, and I immediately asked my team to get in contact with the right people to get that fixed. In saying that, I’m sure it is an honest mistake and the person who made it wouldn’t have made it purposely.”
Maryam is a Melbourne-based weightlifter who was born in Peshawar, Pakistan. As a teenager, Maryam left her family and moved to Melbourne a decade ago to complete her studies in accounting. While living there, she discovered her love for weightlifting.
She was also all praise for the two athletes who bagged the gold medals. “I was pretty stoked and felt proud. I personally feel that the entire team has done a tremendous job. Being an athlete of the same sport myself, I feel proud that not just our men, but our women are competing and making a name for Pakistan in the world. It’s high time our women get recognised for their talents. Good job girls!”
On the other hand, the athletes who made Pakistan proud by winning gold medals last Saturday are yet to comment on the ‘blunder’.
Brilliant performance by Pakistani girls in Oceania-Pacific powerlifting championship. Twinkle Sohail and Saniha Ghafoor clean sweeps with 4 gold medals each in their weight categories. pic.twitter.com/43TK2MRlCY
— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) December 9, 2017
Saniha Ghafoor managed to bag four gold medals in the 57kg category for squats, bench press, deadlift and total weight. The powerlifter lifted an aggregate weight of 280kg, 115kg during squats, 55kg during bench press and 110kg during deadlift.
In the category of 72kg, Twinkle Sohail managed to bag four gold medals.
Oceania Pacific Powerlifting
After Sabiha Ghafoor, now Twinkle Sohail won all four Gold Medals in 72kg category. Now Pakistan’s gold tally is 8. Proud of you girls… #womenpower #Powerlifting pic.twitter.com/JECpR6sNRn— Akber Ali (@AkberAli2611) December 9, 2017
The other members of the female team are Sybil Sohail (47kgs), who also won all gold medals in her particular category, and Rabbia Razzaq (84).
Another clean sweep by Pakistani girl in Oceania Pacific powerlifting championship. Sybil Sohail bags all for gold medals in 47kg weight category. pic.twitter.com/woDKMSck4Z
— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) December 10, 2017
The women and men powerlifting team reached Singapore on December 6 to take part in the competition.
The Men’s team comprised Hammad Khan (105kgs), Nadeem Hashmi (100kgs). Mahmood Heera (95 kgs). Rashid Malik was the Coach.
