Paris Olympics-bound Sarno braces for ‘more durable’ prep in medal bid

FILE–Southeast Asian Video games – Weightlifting – Olympic Taekwondo Corridor, Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Could 15, 2023 Philippines’ Vanessa Palomar Sarno in motion through the girls’s – 71kg REUTERS/Cindy Liu

MANILA, Philippines–Vanessa Sarno will start shifting to a extra demanding coaching program in her quest to topple the hardest bunch within the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“We’ll plan once more on how I can attain the highest 3 within the Olympics,’’ stated Sarno, who closed out the Philippine participation within the Worldwide Weightlifting Federation World Cup in Phuket, Thailand on Sunday with a positive journey to the glitzy French capital.

The 20-year-old Asian champion lifted 245 kilograms within the girls’s 71kg class, clearing 135 within the clear and jerk and resetting her personal nationwide document with a 110 within the snatch.

These numbers, although, gained’t be sufficient for a podium accomplishment within the Olympics.

“I would want a complete of 260 to 265 if I wish to win a medal in Paris. It’s going to be more durable than my preparations within the qualification tournaments,” stated Sarno.

China’s Liao Guifang topped the 2023 world championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with a 273, Ecuador’s Angie Palacios received the silver (255) and Olivia Reeves of america positioned third (253).

In Phuket on Sunday, Reeves topped their weight class with a 268 adopted by Liao (264) and North Korea’s Tune Kuk Hyang (261).

Sarno, who maintained her No. 5 rating after finishing 5 qualification meets, silenced her critics who doubted her capacity to punch a ticket to the Olympics.

However as an alternative of lashing at her detractors, the delight of Tagbilaran Metropolis, Bohol selected the trail to humility in stamping out these skeptics.

“To somebody who informed me that I don’t stand an opportunity to qualify for the Olympics, thanks,’’ stated Sarno.

There have been Sarno disbelievers however she was likewise showered with help all through her buildup.

Well being points hounded the back-to-back Southeast Asian Video games champion previous to the Phuket meet, the final qualification event for the Olympics.

Sarno injured her elbow through the Riyadh worlds final yr and not too long ago recovered from a hurting decrease again.

Already assured of Olympic spots with Sarno are lifters John Ceniza (males’s 61kg) and Elreen Ando (girls’s 59kg) whereas the standing of Rosegie Ramos hangs within the steadiness within the girls’s 49kg.

The 20-year-old Ramos wound up sixth within the snatch, tenth within the clear and jerk and eighth within the complete after the Phuket world cup. The IWF will announce the official listing of Olympic qualifiers early subsequent month.

“We now have three or probably 4 weightlifters in Paris. A few years in the past, we began with one (Hidilyn Diaz), then two in Brazil (2016) and Tokyo (2020) and now three or 4 to be confirmed formally by the IWF,” stated Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella.

“These are new children on the block. Even with the lack of our Tokyo gold medalist Hidilyn, please keep in mind that she impressed these new lifters,” added Puentevella.