MANILA – Two Filipina lifters will now represent the country in the weightlifting competition of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics slated next month after Cebuana Elreen Ando earned her qualification.
Ando qualified for the Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan, via Absolute Continental Ranking for Asia, according to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
The 22-year-old Ando’s Summer Games debut was mixed with luck when she placed 12th in the women’s -64 kilogram (kg) division with 2634,9334 points.
The Cebuana was able to gain the IWF’s nod after European lifters Lisa Marie Schweizer and Anni Teija Vuohijoki – who ranked 10th and 11th in the division, respectively – were eliminated since Europe had four lifters in the top 10.
Ando bolstered her Tokyo Olympics bid following her impressive stunt in the 2021 Asian Weightlifting Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where she captured two silver medals and a bronze.
In the competition, she lifted a total of 213 kg to capture a silver medal next to Chen Wen Huei’s 228 kg lift. She was also a silver medalist in the clean and jerk with 119 kg lift. Her 94 kg lift earned her a bronze medal in the snatch.
For Samahang Weightlifting sa Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella, Ando’s Tokyo Olympics qualification showed that the association’s development efforts “are gaining fruits.”
“At 22, she’s making her first Olympics. Then with maturity three years from now in Paris and Los Angeles in 2028, she will be a force to reckon with in weightlifting,” said Puentevella, believing that Ando will do her best performance in the Olympics.
Ando is the second weightlifter to compete in the Summer Games, next to the four-time Olympian Hidilyn Diaz./PN
