Ziarul wants to go beyond South Asia

Despite winning a gold medal in the South Asian (SA) Games in Nepal last December, weightlifter Ziarul Islam could not grab headlines owing to the presence of Mabia Akter Simanta, who too won a gold medal on the same day to achieve a rate feat of clinching gold medals for Bangladesh in consecutive editions.

Now 25-year-old Ziarul, a weightlifter from Kishanbazar under Dinajpur, is determined to see himself beyond the south Asian region and achieve something no weightlifter from Bangladesh has succeeded in the past.

"A player can only be satisfied with his performance, so I don't feel any complacency after winning the SA Games gold medal, rather I am looking forward to producing medal winning performance in bigger stages than the SA Games," the Bangladesh Army athlete told The Daily Star over phone from Dinajpur where he is in home quarantine.

"I know well that a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games is worth more than a gold medal in the SA Games. And it is also much harder and I want to prepare myself by setting the weight I need to win a medal in Commonwealth Games and Asian Games," said Ziarul, who was promoted to Lance Corporal on February 20 following his success in Nepal.

Ziarul lifted a total of 262 kilos in the 96kg category to win the gold medal, but he has long way to go to get success in Commonwealth Games or Asian Games.

In the last edition of the Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2018, India's Vikas Thakur lifted 351 kilos to ensure bronze medal in 94kg weight category (96kg category was absent) while Kari Steven of Papua New Guinea and Boady Santavy of Canada bagged gold and silver medals by lifting 370 kilos and 369 kilos respectively.

Ziarul is not only almost 100 kilos behind Vikas Thakur, but he is also overweight for Vikas's category.

The Bangladeshi weightlifter, however, believes he can improve gradually if he is provided uninterrupted training under a good foreign coach despite the lack of proper practice facilities.

"We need equipments, which are not sufficient. We also don't have a good gymnasium where weightlifters can practise uninterruptedly. We also need foreign coaches, who can improve the players' technique and weight as they are have full knowledge regarding when the players have to give load and rest and what will be their diet chart," said Ziarul, who claims the overall knowledge of local coaches is limited to having practice and improvement.

"If we want to bring medal from a bigger stage, we need to have quality coaches and long-term training camp. We had only three to four months' training ahead of SA Games, but such short-term trainings won't help players at a bigger stage," said Ziarul.

Ziarul started weightlifting in late 2010 after being inspired by his neighbour Manoranjan Roy, who won a silver medal in the 2010 SA Games in Dhaka. In 2011, Ziarul took part in junior weightlifting championships where he won a bronze medal, paving the way for his inclusion in Bangladesh Army in 2013. Then he skipped all events before taking part in senior national championships in 2019 and bagged gold medal in 102kg weight category before being selected for the SA Games camp.