Kazem Panjavi knows only too well the pain Adam Mattiussi will be feeling at missing out on the Commonwealth Games.

Weightlifter Mattiussi, from Hounslow, looked a shoo-in for Glasgow after hitting the qualifying mark for the men's 77kg category earlier this year, but was dealt a blow when British Weightlifting selected Jack Oliver and Shaun Clegg instead.

For Panjavi, his coach at Stars for the Future, a club which covers all the west London boroughs, it brought back painful memories of Manchester 2002.

Inspiration: Kazem with his daughter Shila (right), who inspired him to take up coaching weightlifting again four years ago

He said: “I competed at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona for Iran, and I qualified for for Sydney in 2000, but having come to Britain in 1995, there was a five year rule, and my passport wasn't quite ready.

“I therefore knew that the Commonwealth Games in 2002 would be my last chance of a major medal, as I was aged 35 by then. I had set a new British record at Crystal Palace, and all I had to do was lift it again, but I bumped three times and lost my place to David Morgan.

“Adam should really be at Glasgow, but instead he will be watching in on TV. I tried to talk to the performance officer and appeal to the committee, but didn't get anywhere. I was doing some coaching with them at the time, but I lost interest at that point.”

Haul: Kazem with some of the silverware he won with his first club, Champions Gym in Hounslow

Panjavi, who lives in Ealing, will instead focus on the club he set up four years ago when his daughter Shila, also a weightlifter, asked for help to achieve her Olympic dream, and which has since gone from strength to strength, regularly winning medals in domestic and international tournaments.

Originally, Panjavi had set up Champions Gym at Hounslow Manor School, four years after arriving in the UK, but packed up less than a decade later as the facilities were no longer suitable and Hounslow Council could not offer an alternative, despite him providing the borough with three London Youth Games champions.

Meanwhile, Panjavi's brother Kamran, who also came to west London with him but has now returned to Iran, did take part in the Commonwealth Games, competing for England at Melbourne in 2006.

However, it was not a happy memory. Kazem added: “He could have won gold but he bumped three times – it was very sad.”

Painful memory: Kazem's brother, Kamran Panjavi, bumps at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, just as he would at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne