[ad_1]
HANOI—There may be a variety of heavy lifting wanted to be completed if Crew Philippines desires to complete at third place within the general medal tally of the thirty first Southeast Asian (SEA) Video games.
That’s what the nationwide weightlifters are right here for.
The crack weightlifting group has been deployed with at least Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz as squad chief. The mission: Acquire extra gold medals and start laying the concrete for a path to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Diaz, the nation’s first Olympic gold medalist and one of many big-named athletes collaborating within the biennial meet right here, will see motion in ladies’s 55-kilogram class at Hanoi Sports activities Coaching and Competitors Heart on Friday.
“We hope we are able to contribute to the gold medal tally,” mentioned Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella. “Hidilyn is in high form. And all people is okay. They’re all ready.”
The Philippines has at present dropped to fourth place with sports activities officers seeking to weightlifting and boxing to restart the nation’s gold machine.
“I’m wanting ahead to Hidilyn retaining her title, she’s an elite athlete and an Olympic champion,” Philippine Olympic Committee president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino mentioned.
Indonesia and Malaysia pose the principle risk for the nation, which is eyeing a minimum of three gold medals within the sport, in response to Puentevella on Thursday.
Ramos bronze
Rosegie Ramos bought the bid rolling on Thursday with a bronze medal within the ladies’s 49-kg class with a complete elevate of 179 kg. She completed behind Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao (195 kg) and Vietnam’s Dinh Thi Pham (183 kg).
On Saturday, Vanessa Sarno takes her flip within the ladies’s 71kg division. Sarno can be favored for the gold medal.
“My objective in each competitors is to win a [gold] medal, watch the flag of the Philippines rise and sing the ‘Lupang Hinirang’ (nationwide anthem),” Sarno advised the Inquirer earlier than the beginning of the regional meet. “I’ll do all the things I can to win my first gold medal within the SEA Video games.”
However for a sport that introduced Olympic glory to the Philippines after practically a century of ready, the Filipino weightlifters are utilizing the SEA Video games as a place to begin for his or her final objective: Moving into the Paris Olympics.
Puentevella mentioned the athletes’ performances right here will function their auditions for round seven Olympic qualifying tournaments scattered all over the world.
“There are 5 qualifying and two obligatory occasions for Paris,” mentioned Puentevella. “Now we wish to compete in as many as 5 of them to maximise our possibilities of qualifying within the Olympics.”
“The plan is to maintain competing till the Paris [Olympics in] 2024,” Diaz mentioned earlier than arriving right here. “If there’s additionally one other weightlifting occasion in Cambodia [in 2023], then I’ll additionally compete in that SEA Video games.”
‘one hundred pc decided’
“I’m one hundred pc decided to additionally make a reputation for myself within the Olympics,” Sarno, the Asian junior and senior champion, mentioned. “Like ate Hidi (Diaz), I’m able to sacrifice so I can obtain my objective of reaching the Olympics quickly.”
Like Diaz, too, Sarno shouldn’t be taking the competitors right here with no consideration.
Diaz, actually, arrived every week sooner than initially scheduled so she may start her last preparations for the occasion. Her profitable lifts within the 2019 Video games had been 91kg in snatch and 120kg in clear and jerk. She holds the Olympic report in clear and jerk at 127kg.
However the 31-year-old star warned that opponents will likely be extremely motivated to take her down.
Sarno can be conscious of the competitors, saying “weightlifters from Thailand and Vietnam” will likely be her principal rivals.
One other Olympian, Nestor Colonia (67kg) can even see motion on Friday together with Rowel Garcia (61kg) and Margaret Colonia (59kg).
Two extra lifters tagged as potential heirs to Diaz’s throne will see motion within the weekend: Elreen Ando (64kg) on Saturday and Kristel Macrohon (+71kg) on Sunday.
Different members of the group are Mary Flor Diaz (45kg) in ladies’s, and Fernando Agad (55kg), Lemon Denmark Tarro (73kg), John Kevin Padullo (89kg) and John Dexter Tabique (+89kg) in males’s.
Learn Subsequent
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get entry to The Philippine Each day Inquirer & different 70+ titles, share as much as 5 devices, take heed to the information, obtain as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Name 896 6000.
For suggestions, complaints, or inquiries, contact us.
[ad_2]
Source link