TOKYO – Elreen Ando is so young and so good that she cracked the Tokyo Games when she’s actually being groomed for the Paris Olympics in 2024.
And now that she’s here, the 22-year-old Cebuana vows to give what she’s got as she vies for the women’s 64kg category of the 32nd Olympics weightlifting competition at the Tokyo International Forum Monday night.
“Matapang yang bata na ‘yan, kaya lalaban ‘yan (That kid is brave, she will fight),” Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella said.
But realistically, she’s still just a project that needs exposure, experience, and polishing to hit her potential.
“The next Olympics is the target. She would be good for Paris,” said Puentevella of their prized find from the University of Cebu, a school with an athletic program that produced June Mar Fajardo and Dondon Hontiveros.
Ando has been improving as can be gleaned in her marks. Good for a total lift of only 201kg in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, she jacked it up to 213kg in her silver-medal showing in the 2019 SEA Games at home.
And Ando also did a 213kg in her silver-medal feat in the Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last year.
Hidilyn Diaz’s silver-medal achievement in the 2019 Rio Olympics has served as an impetus in the growth of the sport in the country.
With a boost to the national team program, the weightlifting chief is projecting four to five weightlifters making the next Olympics in the French capital.
Puentevella points to Ando, Kristel Macrohon, and Vanessa Sarno as among their bright prospects for the Paris Games.
Macrohon won the gold in the women’s 71kg in the 2019 SEA Games. In the Tashkent Asian meet last year, Sarno took her turn to reign supreme in the same category.
“Bakbakan si Macrohon at Sarno sa 71kg. Ang plano namin ibaba ang isa sa next category, para pareho silang panglaban sa medal (Macrohon and Sarno battle for 71kg. Our plan is to bring down one of them in next category, so that both of them can fight for medal),” Puentevella said.
Meanwhile, Ando tries what she can do in her Olympic debut on Tuesday. (PR)
