Pakistan: Vehari man who broke Guinness thumb push-ups record seeks government patronage

Burewala: Hafiz Mohammad Arshad, a Vehari-based worker, who broke the world record of most thumb push-ups in a minute replacing his Russian predecessor in the Guinness Book of World Records, is now training hard in his small village home and agriculture fields eyeing more records.

Hafiz performed 68 push-ups on thumbs to break the record of 61 push-ups held by the Russian and had sent evidences to the management of Guinness Book of the World Records in December 2021 and won the Guinness certificate.

“Recently I have received a certificate from the Guinness Book after I sent evidences to them time and again,” he said, adding “It is Pakistan’s record and I dedicate it to the whole nation.”

Hailing from a lower middle class family, the 41-year old, who has six kids and elderly parents, runs a small mobile phone shop to make a living. He said he achieved the feat despite limited resources.

“Mohammad has always been inspired to attempt a Guinness World Record title. He started off only being able to achieve one standard push up and worked his way up over time to be able to do thumb push-ups. He was warned by other people that if he kept doing thumb push-ups, his thumbs would break. At the beginning of his training, his thumbs would get injured due to his intense training regime but with practice, he learnt how to be able to do it in a safer,” according to a message posted on the Guinness web site.

Mohammad Arshad said he has started practice to break four more records listed on the Guinness Book but need support, adding that no training facility was available in Vehari. He said, he has now four records in sight that he wants to break but need government patronage.

The records he wanted to break included one hand release push-ups currently held by an American, thumb hand release push-ups record of an athlete from Egypt New Valley, four finger push-ups record held by an Indian and hand release push-ups.