By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
The Philippine weightlifting team will go home empty-handed in the 2023 IWF World Championships after both Vanessa Sarno and Kristel Macrohon fared badly in the women’s 71kg event on Wednesday, Sept. 13, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The 19-year-old Sarno, touted as one of the country’s brightest hopes in the coming Asian Games, did not finish after suffering an injury while 2019 Southeast Asian Games champion Macrohon settled for 19th place in the same weight class.
Coming off a silver-medal finish in the Asian Championships in Korea last May, Sarno lifted 100 kilograms in snatch before deciding not to compete in clean & jerk due to injury.
Macrohon, 27, managed only 97 kilos in snatch and 128 kilos on clean & jerk to finish 225 kilos – 48 kilos lighter than eventual gold medalist Liao Guifang of China, who posted 120 kilos in snatch and 153 kilos in clean & jerk for 273 kilos.
Ecuador’s Angie Paola Palacios Dajomes bagged the silver with 255 kilos while United States’ Olivia Lynn Reeves copped the bronze with 253 kilos.
China, as expected, dominated the event with five gold medals followed by Thailand with two.
With the PH team failing to clinch a single medal in the tournament, John Febuar Ceniza became the best Filipino finisher after finishing fifth in the men’s 61kg.
Tokyo Olympics champion Hidilyn Diaz settled for seventh in her new weight class in the women’s 59kg while fellow Tokyo Olympian Elreen Ando managed eighth in the same weight division.
Rising teen lifter Rosegie Ramos also claimed seventh in the women’s 49kg, while newbie Lovely Inan did not finish in the same weight event.
Up next for the weightlifters are the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China late this month with Ando, Diaz, Sarno, Ramos and Ceniza
