Filipino weightlifter Vanessa Sarno bagged two gold medals and a silver in the women’s 71kg category in the Asian Weightlifting Championships Wednesday, April 21, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Sarno, a former champion in the Asian juniors, ruled the clean and jerk category, and finished with the best overall score to win two gold medals. She finished second in snatch for the silver.
The native of Bohol lifted 128kgs in clean and jerk and carried 101kgs in snatch, which gave her an overall score of 229kgs to rule her category.
Sarno’s victory came a few days after Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz secured a spot in the Tokyo Olympics after she finished fourth overall in the 55kg women’s division.
Gulnabat Kadyrova of Turkmenistan ruled the snatch with 102kgs, and settled with the silver medal in total score of 223kgs, and pocketed the bronze medal in the clean and jerk with 121kgs.
Kazakhstan’s Yekaterina Bykova claimed the silver medal in clean and jerk with 122kgs and bronze in total score with 213 points.
Sarno’s haul in the Asian Championship added to the collection of the national team following the three silver medals of Mary Flor Diaz in women’s 45kg, two silvers and a bronze from Elreen Ando in women’s 64kg, and a bronze medal from John Fabuar Ceniza in the men’s 61kg division.