Elreen Ann Ando will spearhead the PH weightlifting team in Paris having big shoes to fill. —AFP With Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, the Philippines’ first and only Olympic gold medalist and sentimental favorite, failing to qualify for the Paris Summer Games that gets going next month, the responsibility of following up on her historic feat falls on three promising weightlifters. And shouldering the heaviest burden is Elreen Ando, who actually ousted Diaz-Naranjo when they competed for the lone Olympic ticket available for the country in their face-off in the 59-kilogram category of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Cup in Thailand last April.
She will be joined by Asian junior weightlifting champion Vanessa Sarno and John Ceniza in the world’s fashion capital as part of a 15-strong Philippine contingent that will be shooting for the country’s second gold medal. Ando getting there the way she did, naturally, had nonbelievers coming out in the open. “I am drawing my strength from my family and people who don’t believe in me—I made them my motivation,” Ando, who was seventh in the 64-kilogram division in the Tokyo Games, said in Filipino.
Diaz-Naranjo and Ando crossed paths in qualifying after their respective events in Tokyo, the 55-kg for Diaz-Naranjo, were scrapped for the Paris edition, with the 59-kg bracket the middle ground for the PH aces. But Ando proved her worth in Thailand by lifting a total of 228 kg, a personal-high, after clearing 100 kg in .
