Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo looks to seal her spot in the Paris Olympics this year. —FILE PHOTO
In three weeks time, weightlifting could achieve something for Team Philippines that no other sport has done so far: Book four tickets to the Paris Olympics.
Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo leads the list of contenders for qualification and is on track for a record fifth straight appearance in the Summer Games.
And this time she won’t be alone.
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Asian youth and junior standout Rosegie Ramos, who has been training with the Tokyo gold medalist, needs to finish inside the top ten in a qualifying tournament on April 2 to 11 in Phuket, Thailand, to join Diaz-Naranjo.
“I have to be patient and make sure to show up in prime condition during the (last) qualification tournament,” said the 20-year-old Ramos in Filipino.
The lifter from Zamboanga is currently tied for eighth and ninth spots with Dominican Republic’s Beatriz Piron and needs to stay where she is or rank higher to earn an Olympic appearance.
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Bohol’s Vanessa Sarno and Cebu’s John Fabuar Ceniza are in even better positions going into the qualifying tournament.
Sarno, the gold medalist in the 2022 Asian championships in the women’s 71kg, is safely tucked at fifth and only a disastrous result in Phuket could deny her of an Olympic stint.
FILE – Vanessa Sarno.. —TEAM PHILIPPINES
“I’m continuously building up my strength by training hard every day,” said Sarno, whose career best in the total is 249kgs.
Ceniza has been consistent in the last four of five qualification tournaments they’ve gone through, sharing the fifth and sixth slots in the men’s 61kg with Georgia’s Shota Mishevelidze.
“We have been praying for this. God has been good to us in this sport,” said Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella, who is dedicating PH weightlifting’s rush of Olympic slots to his late wife.
Diaz-Naranjo stands at eighth overall in the women’s 59kg after four qualifying meets.
The weightlifting heroine moved up in weight after the 55kg class where she won the nation’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo got scrubbed from the Paris calendar.