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Pakistan men’s team captain, Babar Azam, announced that he will present a reward of INR 2 million for Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nooh Dastagir Butt. The 24-year-old won Pakistan’s first gold in the ongoing CWG 2022 games as the weightlifter completed a record attempt of 405kg. 

Azam was immensely proud of Butt’s phenomenal achievement and promised to pay INR 2 million. In a congratulatory message for the gold medallist, Babar Azam wrote on his Twitter account, “Roar Pakistan! Extremely proud of these superstars. All our athletes deserve proper structure, support, and state-of-the-art facilities.”

Talking about the champion, Nooh Dastagir Butt dedicated his gold medal to his father as he opened up about how his father, who had sacrificed a lot in his formative years. “This wasn’t possible without the support and prayers of my friends and family members,” he said.

“I dedicate this gold medal to my father, who worked for 12 years and helped me reach this stage. It took me sheer hard work and dedication to win this gold. Winning a medal for your country is always a proud moment, and gold is something special,” Butt stated.

But after winning the yellow metal, he talked about the lack of infrastructure and support in Pakistan for athletes. “Back in Pakistan, there is no training facility, nor any hall of international standard where competitions can be held. Equipment too isn’t up to the mark,” he said. “I’ve got here because of my father’s passion for the sport. It was he who made sure we were able to train with the best equipment. But we need more support going forward.”

A similar sentiment was shared by former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar who talked about how he was proud of Pakistani athletes and that they deserve support and better infrastructure as they have the ability to do even better. His tweet said, “So proud to see our athletes doing well at #CommonwealthGames2022. They all deserve more look after and a better structure & they will do even better.”

Check out the tweet here: