Weightlifter Shujauddin Malik promised Tuesday to give Pakistan a lift on and off the Commonwealth Games arena, pledging to win a medal for his troubled country. Malik is Pakistan's best - perhaps lone - gold medal hope in the October 3-14 Games due to take place in New Delhi and has won national fame for excelling at international competitions.
He won Pakistan's only gold medal in the last Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia in 2006 and has been striking gold in the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games since 1985. "India is a special place for me because it is here I won my most precious gold medal in the SAF Games in 1995, competing in the most difficult 94 kilogramme category," Malik told AFP.
"You get pumped up in India and want to win more because of the rivalry," he said in reference to the political tensions between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since independence. Malik said he also wanted to leave Indians with a good impression.
"There is a wrong conception about Pakistanis in India but I want to tell them that we are good people." A four-year peace process between India and Pakistan collapsed after 166 people were left dead in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistani-based militants.
Malik, who will compete in the 94 kilogramme category, said he would dedicate any gold medal to the victims of Pakistan's devastating floods, which have affected up to 21 million people in the country's worst natural disaster. "I am confident that I will win gold medal in the competition and that will be dedicated to the millions of flood victims in Pakistan as I can feel their pain," said Malik.