Weightlifters including Mirabai barred from carrying national flag to Asian C'ship podium

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has barred all athletes from carrying their respective national flags to the podium on eve of the 2023 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Jinju, South Korea.

This development means that no medal winners will be allowed to carry their own national flag on the podium. Instead, the lifters will have to contend themselves with small images of the national flag on the screens.

But, what forced the IWF to come to this decision?

IWF President Mohamed Jalood revealed that two separate incidents - the podium controversy involving a Turkish and Armenian athlete at the European Junior Championships last year and the flag-burning saga at the European Championships in Yerevan three weeks ago.

At the European Junior Championships last year in Albania, a Turkish lifter Emre Ozturk tried to cover up the gold medal winner Garik Karapetyan's Armenian national flag with his won. Ozturk even walked off the podium during the Armenian national anthem and refused to shake hands with Karapetyan.

On the other hand, at the recently concluded European Championships in Armenia, a spectator from the crowd rushed into the middle during the parade of nations at the opening ceremony and set ablaze an Azerbaijan national flag causing a huge political controversy.

"We are a sport, we represent peace, not fighting and arguments about who is best," Jalood was quoted as saying ahead of the Asian Championships.

"What happened in Yerevan was taken into consideration when we talked about this. We don’t want athletes on a small podium trying to push their flags in front of each other - this is not sport," he added.

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) is expected to formally adopt this no flag rule for all competitions in its next executive board meeting, as per reports.