Glasgow 2014: Darius Jokarzadeh could switch to American football

Darius Jokarzadeh has taken up an American football scholarship at a Pittsburg university.

Weightlifter Darius Jokarzadeh, fourth in the +105kg class in Glasgow, is considering American Football instead.

The 21-year-old Welshman lifted a total of 361kg, 27kg behind Canadian gold medallist George Kobaladze's 400kg.

The 6ft 7in, 20-stone Jokarzadeh faces a choice between weight-lifting and his chances of a future as an American football player.

"For the moment I think American football is the thing for me, purely thanks to the money," Jokarzadeh said.

After missing out on a Commonwealth Games medal, the biochemistry student will return to the United States and continue playing American football for Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania.

He admits the lure of a big-money contract in the US could win out over a chance to compete in the 2016 Olympics.

"I'm going to have to make a decision if I'm going for Rio and see what funding is available," he said.

"If you make it over there, you're on a $15m contract. How can you earn that over here?

"But eventually, even if it's 2020 or 2024, I want to go here (in the weightlifting), because I definitely think I have the potential to win an Olympic medal, if not gold."

Jokarzadeh failed twice at lifting 175kg on the snatch to leave him fourth at the halfway stage.

He comfortably saw off 196kg in his first clean-and-jerk lift but was forced to move up to 212kg to try and get ahead of Australian Damon Kelly and could not manage it.

His final score of 361 was 27 off bronze medallist Kelly. Itte Detanamo claimed silver to bring Nauru its first Glasgow 2014 medal and 29th Commonwealth medal in total - the other 28 were also in weightlifting.