Lifters predict SEAG gold finish

MANILA, Philippines - Gaining confidence from their five-gold, one-silver effort in the recent Asian Youth and Junior tilt, Philippine weightlifting officials foresee Hidilyn Diaz and Nestor Colonia vying for the mints in the coming Southeast Asian Games.

“We’re targetting two gold medals in the SEA Games with Hidilyn and Nestor as our top prospects,” said Philippine Weightlifting Association (PWA) chairman Mark Rommel Alino during the lifters’ courtesy call on the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) yesterday.

Diaz took the gold in snatch (95kgs) and total lift (215kgs) and silver in clean and jerk (120kgs) in the 58kg junior women category in the Asian tilt held in Pattaya, Thailand recently.

Colonia swept the snatch (115kg), jerk (137kgs) and total (252 kgs) titles in the junior men 56kg play. Patricia Llena won three bronzes over in youth girls 69 kg competitions.

PWA officials said Diaz’s 215kg mark is better than the 210kg winning lift in the 2009 SEA Games in Laos while the 260kg lifted by Colonia in the PWA’s quarterly trials is just a manageble five kilos off the bronze-winning medal lift in the Laos meet.