Outplayed by Hidilyn Diaz the last time out, Elreen Ando tries again

Elreen Ann Ando remains positive about her Olympic hopes. —AFP

Another face-off between Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo and Tokyo Olympian Elreen Ann Ando is in the works with the better lifter booking a ticket to the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The 2023 National Weightlifting Championships in Bacolod City on July 10 to 16 features the finest lifters in the land, all of them raring to wear the national colors in the Asiad and yet the spotlight will be on the second meeting between Diaz-Naranjo and Ando.

Ando’s initial contest, with Diaz at the 2023 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Jinji, South Korea, two months back didn’t end well after the 24-year-old ace from Cebu failed all her attempts at 125 kilograms (kg) in the clean and jerk despite winding up fifth in the snatch.

Diaz-Naranjo finished fourth in that encounter behind China’s gold-silver tandem of Luo Shifang and Pei Xinyi and bronze medalist Kuo Hsing-chun of Taipei, the gold medalist in the Tokyo Olympics in the same 59kg weight class.

“I have to move forward after learning from my mistakes. I know it would be hard, but I just keep on training and I hope I can make it,’’ said Ando, the gold medalist in the 59kg during the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia last month.

Ando, who tried her luck in the women’s 64 kg in the Tokyo Olympics, saw her weight category scrapped together with Diaz-Naranjo, the women’s reigning Olympic 55kg champion, forcing both Filipinos to cross paths at 59kg.

Top eight

Both of them are hoping to barge into the top eight in four of the five Olympic qualifying tournaments on the road to the 2024 Paris Olympics. But only one of them will get an outright berth so finishing better will also be part of the goal.

“These are the challenges that I have to overcome and I’m willing to go through all the hardships just to be in the Olympics,’’ said Ando.

Ando and Diaz-Naranjo could again meet at the 2023 IWF World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sept. 2 to 17 and another mandatory collision that both should go to is the 2024 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Cup on April 2 to April 11 next year in Phuket, Thailand.

“I have to compete in these Olympic qualifiers and it has to be quality over quantity. People are telling me that I can do it, it gives me inspiration,’’ said Diaz-Naranjo.

According to Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella, the Hangzhou Asiad from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8 in not part of the Olympic qualification calendar but all national lifters are required to participate in the national championships for qualifying in the national pool.

The Bacolod meet next week will determine the country’s lineup for the Asian Games, where Diaz-Naranjo struck gold in the women’s 55kg during the 2018 edition in Jakarta, Indonesia.