Pakistan’s Wrestler Muhammad Inam Butt ended Pakistan’s campaign at the Gold Coast Commonwealth games with a gold medal. Inam played his final under the 86 kg freestyle wrestling on Saturday. He put paid to the World number 2’s chances of winning the 3rd gold for Nigeria. Freestyle wrestler Inam outclassed his opponent in the finals on a points decision of 6-0. Before this match, he was already pumped up and wanted to finish Pakistan’s run at the games with a win. He told Express Tribune that he wanted to bring respect for Pakistan and had nothing in his mind but the Gold medal.
“It was such a big event and I felt that I needed to salvage some pride for Pakistan”. He continued to say: “It was embarrassing that we didn’t win a single gold medal. I felt that I need to do something, something good, and I wanted that gold. I really wanted Pakistan to win in the games.”
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The wrestler defeated Canadian wrestler in the semifinals after taking out his Indian counterpart in the quarter finals. Inam was really eager to beat Somveer in the quarters because he was favorite for the title. Also, there were a lot of Indian spectators rooting for him and that somehow motivated Inam to bring out his best. After winning the gold, Pakistan’s position at the medal table improved by 7 positions. Pakistan’s Commonwealth contingent ended its campaign with a total of 5 medals and at the position of 24th at the table. Talking to geo.tv, Inam shared his concerns over the governments negligence towards athletes. He said that the players are under resourced and deprived of necessary training.
“I appealed to government four months ago to grant me a million rupees for my training but I didn’t get anything. Nevertheless, I got it arranged at my own and some from PWF and managed to train myself. Wrestlers have done hard work for Pakistan. We deserve support from government,” he said.
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He also said that wrestlers have always made Pakistan proud in international tournaments and will continue to perform well in the Olympics of 2020.
“For Olympics, you prepare for all four years. People started 2020 planning soon after 2016. Even India is planning for 2020 Olympics since 2016. We still have two years to Olympics and if we get proper opportunity to train and government supports us then we can repeat this performance in Olympics as well, “Inam told geo.tv.
Media personnel and athletes praised Inam for his performance and also for saving face at the games. Pakistan Sports Board has also announced cash rewards for all the medalists who brought honor to the country’s name.
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Source: www.geo.tv
Source: www.tribune.com.pk
