TOKYO — Elreen Ando placed 7th in a field of 10 in the women’s 64kg weightlifting competition of the Summer Olympic Games at the Tokyo International Forum here on Tuesday.
For a first-time Olympian, that will do. After all, Diaz took three Olympics (Beijing, London, Rio) winning a medal. But Ando won’t take three to medal in the games, according to weightlifting chief Monico Puentevella.
“Hinog na si Elreen sa 2024 Paris Olympics,” said Puentevella. “She is our project for 2024, together with Vanessa Sarno. Magaling lang talaga kaya nasama na kaagad sa Tokyo.”
The 22-year-old Ando showed promised as she raised 100 kgs in the snatch and 122 in the clean and jerk for a 222-kg total. But it was not enough compared to the 236-kg total of champion Moude Charron of Canada, the 232 of Italy’s Giorgia Bordignon and the 230 of Chinese Taipei’s Chen Wen-Huei.
Also on Tuesday, Filipino-Japanese Kiyomi Watanabe lost to Spain’s Cristina Cabana Perez, 1-0, in the women’s -63-kg elimination round of judo on Tuesday.
This leaves 11 out of the 19 Filipino Olympians still in the running for golds – the four boxers Nesthy Petecio, Eumir Marcial, Carlo Paalam and birthday girl Irish Magno, golfers Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan and Juvic Pagunsan, trackster Kristina Knott, pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, Carlos Yulo and swimmer Remedy Rule, who qualified for the semifinals of the women’s 200-meter butterfly after she placed 15th overall in the heats at the Tokyo Aquatics Center Tuesday.
