BOOSTING his bid for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Cebuano John Fabuar Ceniza showed marked improvement last Wednesday night, finishing fifth overall with a total lift of 296 kilograms in the men’s 61kg division of the World Weightlifting Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
A silver medalist in the last 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Game, Ceniza, 25, narrowly missed a podium finish when he wobbled in his third and last try at 170 kilos in the clean-and-jerk, eventually winding up with a lift of 165 kilos.
Had he completed his lift, he could have secured the gold medal in the clean-and-jerk and a bronze medal in the overall lifts at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Olympic Complex in the Saudi capital.
Ceniza lifted 131 kilos in the snatch, good for eighth place, while was fifth in the clean-and-jerk of the competition serving as an Olympic qualifier for next year’s Paris Olympic Games.
He surpassed his previous lift at the worlds in Bogota, Colombia in 2021 rising five notches in total lift by 16 kilos from 280 and also in the clean-and-jerk (125) and snatch (155).
“Ceniza is a focused and hardworking young athlete and at the rate he is going, I am confident that he will qualify for Paris and possibly even be a contender there,” said Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella.
“I have seen this lifter train on his own even without coaching supervision. His work ethic is remarkable so I believe in his chances of making it to the Olympics,” Puentevella noted.
Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Li Fabin of China captured two mints in the total lifts (308) and snatch (137) plus a silver in the clean-and-jerk (167) while Italy’s Sergio Massidda had a pair of silvers in the clean-and-jerk (137) and total lifts (302).
Scheduled last night was the highly-anticipated renewed rivalry between Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Hidylin Diaz and Cebuana Elreen Ann Ando in the women’s 59kg division for a spot in the Paris Summer Games.
After her fourth-place finish in the Asian championships in Jinju, South Korea, last May, Diaz is currently tied for No. 7 with Nicole Taylor Wilkins in the division rankings while Ando has yet to earn ranking points after crashing out in last year’s worlds and in the Asian meet.
It will be virtually a make-or-break campaign for the 19-year-old Cebuana, who won the gold medal in the women’s 69kg class in the last 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games in May.
Should she fail again, there will only be two more compulsory competitions left for her to qualify for the Olympics.
A country is limited to one slot in the eight spots available in each weight division of the Paris Games.
