Ando, Ceniza to vie in IWF World Championships in Riyadh
Ando, Diaz clash in women's 59kg division
John Febuar Ceniza (left) and Elreen Ando (right). | Photo from Christopher Bureros.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu’s top weightlifting bets, Elreen Ando and John Febuar Ceniza will compete in the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday, September 6, 2023.
Ando, the record holder and reigning gold medalist of the women’s 59kg of the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Cambodia, earlier this year, will go head-to-head against Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz in the 59-kilogram division.
This will be the second time Ando and Diaz clash in the same weight category after the latter moved up to a heavier weight class earlier this year.
In their first face-off, Ando and Diaz fell short of a podium finish in the Asian Weightlifting Championships in South Korea.
This time, they will go up against nine contenders in the women’s 59-kilogram division including Danielle Gunnin (USA), Nina Sterckx (Belgium), Dora Tchakounte (France), Xinyu Pei (China), Daphne Guillen (Mexico), Shifang Lou (China), Janeth Gomez (Mexico), Taylor Nicole Wilkins (USA), Kamila Konotop (Ukraine), and Yenny Fernanda Alvarez (Colombia).
CENIZA BATTLES 10 OTHER CONTENDERS
Meanwhile, Ceniza a silver medalist in the men’s 61-kilogram division of the SEA Games earlier this year will test his mettle against 10 other competitors in his weight division.
They are Elyas Tamim Shuwaired (Oman), Amine Bouhijbha (Tunisia), Simon Brandhuber (Germany), Kaito Hirai (Japan), Gabriel Marinov (Bulgaria), Arley Calderon Licourt (Cuba), Victor Guemez (Mexico), Wilkeinner Lugo Rodriguez (Venezuela), Goderdzi Berdelidze (Georgia), and Hongjic Ding (China).
Ceniza and Ando are accompanied by their coach, Ramon Solis along with the rest of the Philippine team. /rcg
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