Sarno succumbs to cold weather, ends up at 5th in Asian weightlifting tilt

MANILA, Philippines – Due to failure to adjust to the biting cold, Vanessa Sarno hurt her knees and settled for a fifth-place finish in the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan Wednesday.

The 20-year-old wunderkind from Tagbilaran, Bohol, who is being considered as heiress to Philippine lifting queen and Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo’s throne, tried to fight off the pain but managed a total lift of just 228 kilograms — 100kg from snatch and 128kg from clean and jerk — in the women’s 71kg class, which was good for fifth.

It was a far cry from her personal bests of 249kg total, 108kg snatch, and 141kg clean and jerk she registered in the IWF World Grand Prix 2 last December in Doha, Qatar where she wound up also at fifth.

North Korean Song Kuk Hyang, who topped the Doha tilt, dominated the field with a 269kg (115kg snatch, 154kg clean and jerk).

Despite the finish, Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella said Sarno has moved to the top five in the world and should qualify to this July’s Paris Olympics.

And to prevent potential injuries, Puentevella said he would ask the Philippine Sports Commission to allow their lifter, should they qualify to the quadrennial games, to fly in a week or less earlier to Paris to acclimatize.

“But I’m requesting PSC to fly our lifters one week before performing for acclimatization,” he said. “From 30 degrees to minus 0 degrees affected three of our six lifters. Dapat iba ang treatment sa Olympic aspirants than ordinary athletes.”

Weightlifting, of course, has delivered the country its breakthrough Olympic gold in Tokyo courtesy of Diaz-Naranjo and could qualify as much as four lifters to Paris, including Sarno, Rosegie Ramos, John Ceniza and possibly Elreen Ando.