Vanessa Sarno will be PH National Team’s ace in the World Weightlifting Championship
WITH Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz skipping the 2021 World Weightlifting Championship, it’s time for her heir apparent to take on the challenge.
The 18-year old Vanessa Sarno will be carrying the flag in pursuit of a medal finish in the December 7 to 17, 2021 meet in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
She is registered in the women’s 71 kg event.
Sarno will be accompanied by the Philippine weightlifting National Team.
The rest of the PH team campaigning in the world meet are Mary Flor Diaz (women’s 45 kg), Elien Rose Perez (women’s 49 kg), Elreen Ann Ando (women’s 59 kg), Margaret Colonia (women’s 64 kg), Kristel Macrohon (women’s 71 kg), Fernando Agad (men’s 55 kg), John Febuar Ceniza (men’s 61 kg), Dave Lloyd Pacaldo (men’s 67 kg), and John Dexter Tabique (men’s 96 kg).
To recall, the then 17-year-old lifter clinched two gold medals in the 2021 Asian Weightlifting Championship held last April also in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
She won in the Clean and Jerk Event after registering a 128-kg record. She also got silver in the Snatch Event after listing a 101-kg lift, second to gold winner Gulnabat Kadyrova of Turkmenistan who lifted 102-kg.
The 229-kg total lift executed by Sarno was enough to earn overall first place in her division, followed by Kadyrova of Turkmenistan with her 223-kg total lift and Yekaterina Bykova of Kazakhstan who bore a total of 213 kilograms.
The decision of Diaz to skip the world meet was announced by the Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas (SWP) president Monico Puentevella.
He also expressed the condition of Diaz and how she is shifting her focus to defend her title in the 2022 SEA Games and 2022 Asian Games.
Tashkent tilt would serve as one of the many qualifying tournaments to the 2024 Paris Games.
While Sarno was not one of the five Tokyo Olympians from the weightlifting National Team, she hopes that this 2021 world meet would prove her spot in the upcoming Paris Games.
“This is the new, hungry and future weightlifting stars of the country,” said Puentevella. “After Hidilyn, we now move on for Paris 2024 and inspired, we prepared for this a long time ago.
“This is the first of the qualifiers, let’s support our lifters,” he added.
Tags: #sports, #weightlifting, #Olympics# HidilynDiaz #WorldWeightliftingChampionships