CWG 2022: Gold medalist from Pakistan Dastagir Butt says, Got lot of love from India
"We look up to Mirabai Chanu for inspiration"
Birmingham, Aug 8: As soon as Nooh Dastagir Butt won Pakistan's first gold medal at the Birmingham Games, one of the first persons to lend a congratulatory hand was none other than Indian superstar Mirabai Chanu.
As an Olympic medallist, Chanu has catapulted herself to superstardom and is not only an icon in India but also for weightlifters from the neighbouring nation.
"It was such a proud moment for me when she congratulated me and praised my performance," Butt told PTI after winning the gold in the men's 109+kg category with a record lift of 405 kg.
The 24-year-old Pakistani shattered all the three Games record -- 173 in snatch, 232 in clean and jerk and the aggregate.
"We look up to Mirabai for inspiration. She has shown us that, we from the South Asian countries can also win an Olympic medal. We became so proud of her when she won the silver at the Tokyo Olympics."
Gurdeep Singh won bronze in the same category and Butt considers the Indian as one of his close friends.
"We have been very good friends for the last seven-eight years. We have trained together in abroad a few times. We are always in touch," Butt let everyone know the bonhomie he shares with his Indian counter-parts.
For Butt, it was never an Indo-Pak battle but an individual challenge to surpassing his best.
"It was not that I was competing with an India lifter. I just wanted to give my best and win it here," he said of Gurdeep, who became the first Indian weightlifter to win a CWG medal in plus-weight category.
Two visits to India and memories of lifetime
Butt has been to India twice for international events. First was the Youth Commonwealth Championship in Pune, back in 2015 and the very next year for the South Asian Games in Guwahati.
"I've been to India two times and the support I received each time is unforgettable. I long to go back to India again," he added.
"I think, mere Pakistan se jyada fans India mein hai (I think, I've more fans in India than back home)," he said in jest.
Amid the cross-border tension between the neighbouring countries, the Pakistani contingent had arrived for the South Asian Games in Guwahati-Shillong in 2016, only to "feel themselves at home"
"But when I was in Guwahati, the hotel staff became like my extended family and were in tears when I left. Such was the connection in those 10-15 days. They never made me feel that I am from Pakistan or their enemy."
It has been six years since that championship and Butt wouldn't mind visiting India again.
"Definitely, I look forward to visiting again. I never enjoyed any other competition like the way I did in India," he added.
Customised gymnasium and training under father-coach Ghulam
This was Pakistan's only second gold at CWG in weightlifting. Shujauddin Malik (85kg) was the country's only lifter to have won a gold in Melbourne in 2006.
Judoka Shah Hussain Shah is the only other Pakistani on the CWG podium after winning a bronze.
His father-cum-coach Ghulam Dastgir was a former national champion and SAF Games medallist. He has built a gymnasium for his son at their Gujranwala home, where he trains for hours.
"There were a lot of expectations from me as many of our fellow athletes could not win. The responsibility was on my shoulders to give my country our first gold at CWG," said Butt, a bronze medallist
"I struggled with a few injuries after 2018 so I could not make Tokyo. I worked a lot with my 'Abbu' (father in Urdu) for the last two-three years for this and made a comeback."
"My dad is my inspiration. He was his best lifter during his time. This medal belongs to him," he signed off.
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EC begins phased publication of post-SIR rolls in Bengal; 1.18L names deleted in Bankura
Kolkata (PTI): The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday began publishing the post-SIR electoral rolls in West Bengal in phases, with figures from Bankura district indicating that around 1.18 lakh names have been deleted since the exercise commenced.
Hard copies of the updated rolls were put up in districts including Bankura and Cooch Behar, even as the lists were yet to be made available online on the designated EC portals and mobile application till reports last received.
In Bankura, where the electorate stood at 30,33,830 when the SIR exercise began on November 4 last year, the number in the draft rolls published on December 16 had come down to 29,01,009.
Following hearings and scrutiny during the subsequent phase of the SIR, around 4,000 more names were deleted. However, a few thousand fresh applications under Form 6, meant for the inclusion of new voters, were approved.
As a result, the final electoral roll of Bankura, considered a turf where both BJP and TMC have equal political dominance, now stands at approximately 29,15,000, indicating a net deletion of around 1.18 lakh names since the commencement of the SIR, a senior district official said.
Election Commission officials said the deletions were primarily due to death, migration, duplication and untraceability, while additions were processed after due verification.
Reports from other districts are still awaited.
The publication of the rolls is being carried out in phases across districts, and supplementary lists are expected to be issued as adjudication of pending cases continues.
According to officials, the publication classifies 7.08 crore electors, whose names appeared in the draft rolls issued on December 16, into three categories -- 'approved', 'deleted' and 'under adjudication/under consideration'.
Commission sources also indicated that in parts of north Kolkata, nearly 17,000 names were found missing from the approved rolls, further fuelling political reactions from rival parties.
The draft rolls published on December 16 had already seen the state's electorate shrink from 7.66 crore -- the figure based on names appearing in the rolls till August 2025 -- to 7.08 crore, with over 58 lakh names deleted during the first phase of scrutiny.
The SIR process, the first such statewide revision since 2002, began on November 4 last year with the distribution of enumeration forms. The commission took 116 days to provisionally complete the exercise and publish what officials described as a "final but dynamic" list, as adjudication in several cases is still underway.
The second phase involved hearings for 1.67 crore electors -- 1.36 crore flagged for 'logical discrepancies' and 31 lakh lacking proper mapping.
Around 60 lakh voters continue to remain under adjudication, meaning their inclusion or exclusion will be determined in supplementary rolls to be issued in phases.
Meanwhile, long queues were seen outside district election offices and cyber cafes across the state as anxious voters thronged centres to check their names in the updated rolls.
In districts such as Bankura, North 24 Parganas and parts of Kolkata, hard copies of the lists were put up on notice boards, drawing steady streams of residents since morning. Many were seen scanning page after page of printed sheets, some taking photographs on their mobile phones, while others sought help from officials to trace their entries.
At several district magistrate and sub-divisional offices, voters waited in serpentine queues for their turn to verify whether their names figured under the 'approved', 'deleted' or 'under adjudication' categories.
With the updated rolls yet to be fully accessible online, cyber cafes reported a sudden surge in footfall. In many neighbourhoods, small computer centres witnessed lines of people waiting outside, clutching voter ID cards and enumeration slips, reflecting both public anxiety and the high political stakes surrounding the revision exercise ahead of the assembly elections due in April.
