RIO Olympics silver medalist Hidylin Diaz won’t be the only Pinoy weightlifter going to the Tokyo Olympic Games next month.
Keeping her company is Cebuana Elreen Ann Ando, who secured a slot in the women’s kilogram division of the quadrennial global sports showcase based on the International Weightlifting Federation Absolute Ranking list released by the Lausanne-based world body early Saturday (Friday in Europe).
Ando did not make the outright cut of the top eight athletes in her division advancing to the Tokyo Games after the June 11 cut-off date, finishing No. 12 overall in the category, but was assigned the IWF Absolute Continental Ranking slot allotted for Asia.
She secured the seat on the strength of the two silver medals she won in the Asian weightlifting championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last April.
Diaz also formalized her fourth straight trip to the Games after finishing second overall in the women’s 55kg division.
The entries in the men’s and women’s divisions of the Olympic weightlifting competitions are limited to 14 to 15 entries, depending on the weight class, one per country, with a seat allotted for the host and another for the tripartite or “wildcard” invitation.
Ando is the 11th Filipino athlete to qualify for the quadrennial meet, joining the distinguished ranks of Diaz, pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo, boxers Felix Eumir Marcial, Carlo Paalam, Nesthy Petecio, and Irish Magno, skateboarder Margie Didal, taekwondo jin Kurt Ryan Barbosa and rower Cris Nievarez.
