CEBU, Philippines - Veteran Cebuano weightlifters Renante Briones and Christopher Bureros and three other locals will fight for the flag and country in the 25th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Laos.
This will be the third time that Briones and Bureros will represent RP in the biennial sports conclave. The two competed together during the country's hosting of the 2005 SEAG in Bacolod and in Thailand two years ago.
The other Cebuano lifters who made it to the final list of RP delegates to the Laos SEAG are Kelle Kay Rojas and Angelica Lado of the University of San Jose-Recoletos/Aliño Integrated Services and Joselito Padilla of the University of Cebu-Baseline.
Briones will be fielded in the 94 kilograms division, Bureros will see action in the 85 kgs. category, while Padilla will strut his wares in the 105+ class.
Rojas and Lado, on the other hand, will vie for top honors in the 48 and 75+, respectively. Although Rojas and Lado have had already been to several international competitions, this will be their first entry in the SEA Games joust.
According to former Olympian and RP coach Ramon Solis, the Cebuanos have a very bright chance of winning medals based on their latest performance in the National 5-in-1 Weightlifting Championships in Bohol were they reset RP records. – Caecent No-ot Magsumbol (THE FREEMAN)