KUALA LUMPUR – National weightlifter Mohamad Aniq Kasdan has expressed his hopes to have a complete support team to help him achieve better results at the Paris Olympics in July, after successfully qualifying for the world’s largest sporting event on merit.
This is Aniq’s main request to the Road to Gold (RTG) committee, following RTG co-chair and Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh’s promise to fulfil all athletes’ requests under the elite programme to bring home medals from Paris.
Despite ending Malaysia’s Olympic weightlifting drought since Hafifi Mansor in Rio 2016, the 21-year-old athlete expressed dissatisfaction with his recent performance at the International Weightlifting Federation World Cup event in Phuket, Thailand.
Aniq, who competed in the under-61kg category, had a personal best lift of 296kg, surpassing the lift of Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Igor Son who lifted 294kg.
However, Aniq struggled in Phuket. He only managed lifts of 125kg in the snatch and 165kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 290kg – far from his target of 300kg, leaving him disappointed.
“Personally, I don’t know why I couldn’t lift more. Everything I’ve worked for didn’t seem to come together in Phuket.
“Regardless, I am grateful to have qualified for the Olympics because my dream has finally come true.
“But for Olympic preparations, I would like to ask RTG to help me assemble a complete team with a nutritionist, masseuse, and mental coach.
“Currently, everything is managed by my coach Edmund Yeo.
“Fortunately, he is also a former athlete and has advised me a lot on nutrition and other aspects, but it would be better if I had my own nutritionist.
“I take China’s athletes, for example. One of their athletes is supported by about four to five coaches, and it seems to help them focus and perform well. So, I hope to have my own team as well,” said Aniq to Scoop. – April 3, 2024