Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz will lead the Philippine campaign at the Asian Weightlifting Championships scheduled May 3-15 in Jinju, South Korea.
The Zamboangueña will compete in the women’s 59kg category along with fellow Olympian Elreen Ann Ando of Cebu.
Others in the lineup are Rose Jean Ramos (women’s 45kg), Rosegie Ramos (women’s 49kg) and Kristel Macrohon (women’s 71kg) of Zamboanga City, Vanessa Sarno of Bohol (women’s 71kg), Lovely Inan of Angono, Rizal (women’s 49kg) and John Febuar Ceniza of Cebu City (men’s 61kg).
Also joining the trip are coaches Nicolas Jaluag (Bohol), Patrick Lee (Pampanga) and Christopher Bureros (Cebu), and Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella as head of delegation.
The Asian Weightlifting Championships is the second qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics after the World Championships in Bogota, Colombia last year.
The 32-year-old Diaz joined and won the 55kg gold medal in Colombia but the category is not included in Paris. The 2022 SEA Games and 2018 Asian Games champion decided to move up to 59kg where Ando is also trying the get an Olympic berth.
Ando saw action in Tokyo, finishing seventh overall in the 64kg category. She got three medals at the 2020 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan — a bronze in snatch and two silvers from the clean and jerk and total lift. She also won the silver medal in Vietnam.
Sarno, the reigning Asian champion, won the women’s 71kg category in the Vietnam SEAG, setting new records in snatch (104kgs), clean and jerk (124kgs) and total (239kgs). She bagged three gold medals at the 2022 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Rosegie Ramos, a protégé of coach Allen Drayfus Diaz, also competed in Uzbekistan where she took the gold medal in the 49kg. She secured a bronze medal in the Vietnam SEAG.
Rose Jean Ramos, 17, successfully defended the women’s 45kg title at the 2022 World Youth Weightlifting Championships in Leon City, Guanajuato, Mexico. She topped the clean and jerk (85kgs), came in second in the snatch (70kgs) and registered the best total of 155kgs.
Ceniza won the silver medal (55kg) at the 2019 Manila SEA Games.
After the Asian Championships, five athletes namely Ando, Macrohon, Sarno, Inan and Ceniza will return to Manila and join teammates Angeline Colonia (women’s 49kg), Rosalinda Faustino (women’s 55kg), Dave Lloyd Pacaldo (men’s 67kg) and John Dexter Tabique (men’s 89kg) in the flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia on May 11. Diaz will skip the SEA Games to focus on her training. (PNA)