By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Filipina athlete Elreen Ando made sure her 2024 will start with a bang after clinching twin silver medals in the Asian Weightlifting Championships last February 6, 2024, held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The former Tokyo Olympian pulled off a stellar outing in the clean and jerk and the total category of the women’s 59kg division.
Ando lifted a total of 120kg in the clean and jerk and tallied 93kg in the snatch to reach 213kg which was enough to secure her the silver medal.
The uprising Pinay weightlifter only placed fifth in the snatch but her 213kg total placed second overall. It was her 120kg lift in the clean and jerk that summed her silver medals to two.
Completing the list of the podium finishers in Ando’s division were North Korea’s Kim II Gyong who ruled the event while Natasya Beteyob of Indonesia nabbed the bronze medal.
It was a close fight between Ando and the Indonesian weightlifting star as Beteyob missed a kilogram to equalize her Filipina opponent, ending up with a total of 212kg.
Ando first got the attention of the PHL weightlifting scene after pulling off a decent Tokyo Olympic campaign last 2021.
The representative of the Philippines in the Women’s 64-kg weightlifting category placed seventh overall out of the 10 competing nations.
Ando registered a score of 100kg during the snatch and had a good chance of entering the top three with her total.
The prized Filipina impressed during the clean and jerk as she lifted a total of 122 kilograms and was in a good position to either clinch the silver or the bronze medal.
However, Ecuador, Great Britain, and Colombia scored better in their clean and jerk and overtook Ando in the initial top three rankings.
