PABM banking on Aznil, Aniq to qualify for 2024 Paris Olympics

JASIN: The Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (PABM) is banking on national athletes – Muhamad Aznil Bidin and Mohamad Aniq Kasdan – to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

PABM vice president Ahmad Janius Abdullah said the governing body was preparing Muhamad Aznil, 29, and Mohamad Aniq, 21, to collect as many points as possible to be among the top 10.

However, he said both the athletes who were contesting in the 61kg category had to compete with each other, because only one slot was offered for each country per category.

“Both athletes need to participate in a number of mandatory tournaments to collect points including the World Cup in Phuket, Thailand in April, the World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in September as well as the qualifying tournament in South Korea this May.

“In order to prepare for the Paris Olympics, both of them will not compete in the SEA Games in Cambodia this May because the tournament in South Korea offers qualification points, while the dates of the two tournaments are overlapping,“ he told reporters at SK Kesang Tua here today.

He said this after the Weightlifting Talent Search programme organised by the state Education Department, Melaka Amateur Weightlifting and Bodybuilding Association and the Kesang Tua Weightlifting Training Centre.

In another development, Ahamd Janius, who is also PABM development chairman said the weightlifting talent search programme was being actively implemented in Melaka from the primary school level to find young talents in the sport.

He said as of today, 30 athletes aged eight to 14 were being trained and honed in the sport to prepare for the 2024 Malaysia Games which is expected to take place in Johor.

He said all the athletes would undergo scheduled training at the Kesang Tua or Nyalas weightlifting training centres here.

Meanwhile, he said six Singaporean weightlifters were expected to undergo training for a month at the Kesang Tua Weightlifting Training Centre in preparation for the Cambodia SEA Games.

“They are expected to arrive on March 6 to start training and prior to this, the Kesang Tua Weightlifting Training Centre has also been chosen by athletes from several other countries such as the Philippines, Thailand and India,“ he said. –Bernama