Ando bounces back with 2 silvers in Asian Weightlifting Championships

MANILA, Philippines – All it took for Tokyo Olympian Elreen Ando to rekindle the fire that was distinguished following her catastrophic effort in the continental championships last year was her memorable bronze-medal performance in the Hangzhou Asian Games that same year.

And it was that same fire that kept burning inside the 25-year-old Cebu native when she pocketed a pair of silver medals in the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan Monday.

The Southeast Asian Games gold medalist lifted 120 kilograms in clean and jerk and 213kg in total in claiming that pair of silver in the women’s 59kg class that only kept her confidence growing but also bolstered her Paris Olympics bid this July.

North Korea’s Kim Il-Gyong took the gold with a 225kg while Indonesia’s Natasya Beteyob copped the bronze with a 212kg.

The effort should push Ando closer to countrywoman and Olympic gold winner Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo as the two go into a heated battle for that lone spot for the country in their division to the quadrennial games.

Diaz-Naranjo skipped Tashkent and opted to join the next Olympic qualification in Bangkok, Thailand next month instead.

At present, Diaz-Naranjo remains ahead of Ando despite the former’s absence.

But for sure, Ando, using that same fire, would do her best to give her rival a worthy fight for that glorious Olympic stint.