Heavy-duty task

Weightlifter fighting against time to be in top form for KL Games

STRONGMAN Mohd Hafifi Mansor is fighting against time to be in top form for the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.

The Podium Programme weightlifter only started training last week after recovering from a ligament tear on his right leg.

Hafifi, who featured in the Rio Olympics last August, suffered the injury during his training stint in Jinzhou, China, in June.

The 26-year-old, who will compete in the men’s below 69kg category, will return to Jinzhou on Thursday to train for 20 days.

He will return on Aug 26 for his competition at the Malaysian International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MiTEC) on Aug 29.

Five golds are on offer in the sport, but the Malaysian Weightlifting Federation’s (MWF) target is only two silvers and two bronzes.

But for Terengganu-born Hafifi, he wants nothing less than the gold.

“Many believe that I won’t be able to deliver the gold as I’m not in my best form.

“But I want to defy the odds and prove them wrong. I want to win the gold to remain in the Podium Programme,” said Hafifi, who finished fourth in his Games debut in Myanmar in 2013.

Hafifi, the gold medallist at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, believes that the Jinzhou training stint will help him to regain his form and confidence.

“I also have a good coach (China’s Wang Zhiquan). He has been coaching me for two years now. And he has faith in my capabilities to make a good lift,” said Hafifi, who won the gold at the Australian Open Invitational Weightlifting Championships in Melbourne in March.

Hafifi picks Indonesia’s Triyatno and Thailand’s Tairat Bunsuk as his two biggest threats for the gold at the Games.

“Triyanto finished ninth at the Rio Olympics with a total lift of 317kg while Tairat and I managed to lift the same total of 316kg. Tairat was 11th while I finished 12th.

“But with the support of the home fans, I hope to beat them to win the title,” said Hafifi, whose 316kg total – snatch (140kg) and clean and jerk (176kg) – in Rio shattered his previous national record of 313kg at the 2011 National Championships.

Malaysia have not won a weightlifting gold since Che Mohd Azrol Che Mat, also of Terengganu, retained his men’s above 105kg title in the 2005 Games in Manila.