Philippine weightlifting body optimistic on sending 4 bets to Paris Olympics

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If the stars align, there is a strong chance the Philippines will have four weightlifters in this July's Paris Olympics.

'We have around four lifters who will represent us in the Paris Olympics, barring no injuries to all of these four,' said Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella.

Puentevella was referring to Rosegie Ramos, Vanessa Sarno, John Fabuar, and one between Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo and another Olympian Elreen Ando.

The 20-year-old Ramos has practically planted a foot in Paris after zooming to the top five in her women's 49-kilogram division after she recently struck silver and bronze in the Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The Zamboanga City native would just need another solid effort in another Olympic-qualifying event in Phuket, Thailand next month to join pole-vault star EJ Obiena and Tokyo boxing bronze winner Eumir Marcial, who already booked their tickets to Paris.

Sarno, 20, for her part, is also seeing action in Tashkent and if she does well there, she too would close in on that glorious slot to the quadrennial games.

The same goes with Fabuar, who also hails from Cebu like Ando.

For Ando, who had a couple of silver in Tashkent, she is battling Diaz-Naranjo tooth and nail for that hotly contested spot in the women's 59kg class as only one slot is allowed per division per country in the Olympics.

And it will boil down to how Ando, who slightly trails Diaz-Naranjo, will perform in Bangkok.

'As of now, Hidilyn leads by a small margin,' said Puentevella, who thanked the Philippine Sports Commission, SM Group of Companies and the MVP Sports Foundation for financing the Tashkent trip.