Aznil keeping fingers crossed IWF will keep his dreams alive

National weightlifter Mohd Aznil Bidin is hoping to get a lucky break to realise his Olympics dream.

Last week, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) suspended the Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) for one year from all activities and also banned their weightlifters from participating in the Tokyo Olympics for multiple doping offences in 2018.

MWF president Datuk Ayub Rahmat has ruled out taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but hoped IWF will give special consideration to Aznil to collect ranking points for the Tokyo Olympics.

The MWF have appealed to the IWF to make an exemption for Aznil to participate in two more competitions to qualify for the Olympics.

The 26-year-old, who is ranked 36th in the 61kg category, will have to reach the top 14 in the world ranking to earn the ticket to Tokyo next year.

Aznil admits that he faces an uphill battle but still harbours hope of making his Olympics debut.

“I need to thank MWF for their support and their appeal to get me to be in the running to qualify for the Olympics,” said Aznil.

“I wanted to push myself as much as possible in the qualifying tournaments but all that has been spoiled by the IWF ban and the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It does hurt as my hard work may end up being wasted. I really hope the IWF will give us a break.

“Honestly, the MWF have done a lot of changes to clear the image of the sport.

“Last year there was no doping cases in the country involving weightlifters.”

Aznil who holds the national record with a lift of 125kg in snatch and 160kg in clean and jerk which he achieved at the 2019 IWF World Championship in Thailand, admitted if he’s allowed to compete, he would double his effort.

“Many think I should just give up because of the ban. I agree, it’s tough to go up from my current ranking to the top 14 but athletes should not give up,” said Aznil, the gold medallist in the 62kg class at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.