Kristel Macrohon made waves in the women’s 76 kg event of the 2020 Asian Weightlifting Championships, winning two bronzes, Thursday evening (Manila time) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The 24-year-old lifter, who won gold in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, started on the right foot after comfortably 90 kg and then 95 kg on her first two attempts at the snatch. She then opted to lift 99 kg on her final try at this portion and succeeded, only to be eclipsed by a solitary kilogram off the bronze-winning lift of South Korea’s Kang Yeounghee at 100.
Kang had some difficulty at 120 kg in the clean and jerk, putting Macrohon in a chance to overtake after a successful lift.
Macrohon, however, missed on her second attempt at the clean and jerk with 125 kg, as her lift was deemed foul and their eventual challenge on the ruling denied.
The South Korean then totally missed 125 kg, putting the Filipino back in contention. Macrohon wasted no chance and lifted that 126 kg with conviction en route to a total of 225 kg.
Chinese Zhang Wangli won three golds as she dominated the field with a total of 263 kg, 19 kg clear off second placer Kim Suhyeon of South Korea’s 244.
Zhang won both the snatch with 115 kg and the clean and jerk with 148 kg — the latter of which is 8 kg off her world-record mark. Kim, on the other hand, also took the silvers in the snatch at 106 kg and the clean and jerk at 138 kg.
Nineteen-year-old John Tabique will close the Team Philippines campaign as he competes for the men’s 96 kg Group B at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
