By MARK REY MONTEJO
Elreen Ando finally emerged from the huge shadow of Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo to book a return trip to the Olympics after a strong showing at the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand Wednesday night, April 3.
The 25-year-old Ando, who competed against Diaz-Naranjo and other top hopefuls, tallied a personal-best of 228-kilogram total after hoisting 100 kilos in snatch and 128 kilos in clean and jerk to finish seventh in the women’s -59kg.
Her performance not only put her inside the Top 10 that served as her ticket to Paris but also beat Diaz-Naranjo.
The country’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist struggled and finished a disappointing 11th with a 222kg total — 99kg in snatch and only 123kg in clean and jerk.
Diaz-Naranjo was looking at her fifth straight Olympics appearance since competing in the 2008 Beijing edition and was actually one kilogram ahead of Ando after the snatch, but failed to lift her last two attempts at 127kg in clean and jerk.
World No. 1 Luo Shifang topped the event with a record-breaking performance at 248kg, followed by North Korea’s Kim Il Gyong (240), Canada’s Maude Charron (236), China’s Pei Xinyi (233) and Chinese Taipei’s Hsing-Chun Kuo (230).
The final list of the qualified athletes in their respective categories will be announced by IWF after April 28.