WILL there be a male weightlifting medalist for the first time for the Philippines in the Paris Olympic Games?
This is what national weightlifting coach Christopher Boreros and lifter Jose Febuar Ceniza are keenly working on, trying to enhance Ceniza’s prospects of competing in the glamorous French capital in July.
“In every Olympic qualifying event, our goal is to always surpass his previous record or lift. If we do that, hopefully, Ceniza will be our first male weightlifter to win a medal in the Olympics,” Boreros said of his prized ward, whom he started coaching full-time in 2022.
Showing remarkable improvement during the last two years, the 25-year-old Cebuano bagged a silver medal in the last IWF Grand Prix II in Doha, Qatar last December, hoisting a total lift of 298 kilograms after lifting 133kgs and 165kgs in the snatch and clean-and-jerk, respectively.
Boreros, a bronze medalist in the men’s 94kg class in the 2011 Indonesia Southeast Asian Games, said that when he took Ceniza under his wings “we began with a total lift of 284 kilos in the 2022 National Open.
“Then he did 293 at the Asian championships in Jinju, South Korea in May last year, an increase of nine kilos, after which he continued to improve. He was able to lift 297 in the World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in September. Steady talaga ang improvement niya.”
With his latest performance in Doha, Ceniza, a product of Cebu City’s grassroots program, has moved into a four-way tie for seventh place in the International Weightlifting Federation men’s rankings in the weight class.
He is in the company of Georgia’s Shota Mishvelidze, North Korea’s Kim Chung Guk and Thailand’s Chomcheen Teerapat in the top 10.
Each country is limited to just one lifter at the end of the Paris Olympics cut-off date on April 28.
“Actually, tied for No. 6 na ‘yung nasa seventh place since dalawang Chinese ang Nos. 1 and 2,” said the coach, referring to defending Olympic champion Li Fabin and compatriot Chen Lijun, respectively.
Without going into specifics, the coach said that “we aim to exceed 300 kilos in his total lifts in the last Olympic qualifying event, the IWF World Cup, in Phuket, Thailand in April. Kapag makuha namin ‘yun, sure na siya for Paris.”
Due to a slight right hip injury suffered by Ceniza in Doha, Boreros said they decided to skip the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan next week and prepare hard instead for the IWF World Cup set from April. 2 to 11 in Thailand.