'He Made Stone Look Like Toy': Internet In Awe Of Pakistan’s Stone-Lifting Competition

When one thinks of powerlifting, one always thinks of tools like barbells and weight plates. However, in many parts of rural Pakistan, athletes use stones to display their lifting technique and strength. The sport is particularly popular in Punjab and Potohar region. The stone-lifting competitions are held between the categories of 80 kg to 400 kg. Such events are organised during folk fairs and community events. Many believe that the sport encourages the youth to stay fit and also keeps them away from crime and drugs.

Recently, Martins Licis, a Latvian-American professional strongman, best known for winning the 2019 World’s Strongest Man competition, visited Pakistan and documented this unique powerlifting style. He shared videos from the stone-lifting competition and showed how athletes are able to lift heavy stones which are more than double their weight.

While sharing a video of ace stone lifters, hoisting 153-kilogram and 200-kilogram stones, Martins wrote, “What a vibrant and eye opening festival this was! Here, the first athlete, Junaid, performs a unique stone lifting style called “Bugdar,” swinging a 153kg (336lb) stone to his shoulder with both hands. The second athlete, Umair Hassan, impressively hoists a 200kg (440lb) stone to his shoulder, despite weighing only 80 kg. Pakistan boasts incredible strength.”

This video has over 88,000 likes since it was shared on April 20. An Instagram user commented on this, “Amazing to see different cultures and their feats of strength and the unique exercises/lifts they use.” Someone else wrote, “That is very unique and cool! They work with what they got. This is so awesome.”

In another video from the competition, Martins explained the rules of the sport. He wrote that during clean (which means the motion of pulling a load from the ground to shoulder), the rock is not supposed to touch the athlete’s body. He added, “Only in the catch, during the receiving stage of the lift, can the stone rest on the chest. Afterwards, the competitor will squat the stone with each squat adding points to their score for the following opponent to attempt and best.”

An Instagram user praised the simplicity of the athletes and wrote, “Simply amazing. His physique is very unassuming; yet he made that stone look like a toy. That is definitely the most unique style of stone clean I’ve ever seen.” Another person wrote, “Talk about stability, mobility, power and strength in one movement!”

In a 2019 report by Dawn, stone-lifting organisers had said that it was becoming hard to keep this traditional sport alive. One of the competition organisers Sajjad Ali Shah had said that stone-lifting was on the verge of extinction in many places due to the lack of government funding or support. Additionally, youth was choosing other sports like cricket where there were many more opportunities for growth.