MANILA – Filipina weightlifter Mary Flor Diaz took home three silver medals in the 2021 Asian Weightlifting Championships on Sunday evening at the Uzbekistan Sports Complex in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Diaz captured the medals in the women’s 45kilograms (kg) category after she suffered defeat to India’s Jhilli Dalabehera.
She finished second in the snatch event after settling for a 60 kg lift while Dalabehera managed to have a 69 kg. Diaz was also a silver medal awardee in the clean and jerk with a 75 kg lift compared to Dalabehera’s 88 kg.
Dalabehera edged Diaz in the final score, 157-135, to complete a sweep on the head-to-head battle in the category.
Despite placing second, Mary Flor will not join her cousin Hidilyn in the Summer Games slated in Tokyo, Japan this July since the women’s 45 kg division is not part of the Olympics.
Cebuano lifter John Fabuar Ceniza, meanwhile, failed to advance to the finals of the men’s 61 kg division after placing third in his group with 245 points (110 kg in snatch and 135 kg in clean and jerk).
Bohol’s Eileen Rose Perez finished last in a field of 10 in the women’s 49 kg division with 165 points (76 kg in snatch and 96 kg in clean and jerk).
On the other hand, weightlifters Kristel Macrohon and Elreen Ando – who are 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medal winners – will have a chance to join the Tokyo Olympics.
Macrohon will be competing in the women’s 64 kg category on April 20, while Ando will plunge to action in the women’s 76 kg category on April 22. They will just have to finish at least in sixth place to qualify in Japan’s Summer Games./PN
