New greats: Part 2

The international summer is often the time of greatest productivity for Philippine junior athletes. In this piece, we will focus on two more who are already rapidly achieving beyond what is expected, from two vastly different fields.

On Sept. 8, 15-year-old Patricia Llena reached the pinnacle of the 2009 World Sub-Junior and Junior Powerlifting Championships in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Patricia, an honor student from San Antonio, Nueva Ecija, beat three-time world champion Talybova Yana of Russia. She won three gold medals and a bronze by lifting 170 kg in the squat, 80 kg in the bench press and 170 kg in the deadlift for an impressive total of 420kg for the title. Kendra Miller of the US and Yana trailed Llena with totals of 405 kg each, but Miller was considered second by virtue of a lighter body weight. Other participants came from Canada, Japan and host Brazil. Patricia’s bench press is a new Asian Sub-Junior single-lift record.

“Spectators were awed not only by the lifts of Patricia, but more so because they found out she was a newcomer and was the lone entry from the Philippines,” says coach Nick Cabalza. “She’s only 15, so she can still accomplish a lot.”

Internationally, the sub-junior category pits 14- to 18-years old lifters from at least 30 countries against each other. Patricia had never lifted in any regional powerlifting meets when she started in 2008. Her personal coach and father Leonard Llena was thankful the hard work, training and challenging trip across the world paid off.

This early, the teenager is looking ahead to defending her new title in the annual event of the International Powerlifting Federation, which is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through the General Association of the International Sports Federation (GAISF).

Meanwhile, Fil-Aussie boxer Robin Palileo is joining the NCR Youth Boxing Championships of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines, which is holding its general weigh-in at the Mandaluyong Gym this afternoon.

The 57-kilogram Palileo is the 2008 New South Wales PCYC-ABA State champion and Australian Open runner-up. In January, Palileo made his debut in the Philippines, winning the gold medal in his weight class at the SMART-ABAP National Open.

“You will love him. His skills, techniques, confidence and lastly his discipline are all exemplary,” gushes his coach in Blacktown, Australia, former Olympian Ricardo Fortaleza, who migrated to Australia in 2000. “We have high hopes for him as a candidate to win that elusive Olympic gold medal for the Philippines.”

Fortaleza, a many-time national amateur champion, watched and cheered Filipinos in the 2007 AIBA World Championships in Chicago. He has offered his services to the Philippine team. He has been a successful coach and tournament organizer in Australia. Fortaleza also introduced amateur boxing to the Sultanate of Oman from 1986 to 1990, and qualified two boxers to the Seoul Olympics. Returning to the Philippines after that stint, he helped 12 boxers make it to the Manila SEA Games, where eight of them won gold medals.

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, coach Fortaleza managed to get three of his six boxers into the quarterfinals, with Roel Velasco bagging a bronze.

We’ll see if Fortaleza’s protege Palileo has the right stuff to make it to the Philippine team.