MANILA, Philippines – Filipina weightlifting standout Rose Jean Ramos kickstarted the Philippines’ campaign at the 2023 Asian Weightlifting Championships on a high note, nabbing three silver medals at the women’s 45kg category on Friday, May 5, in Jinju, South Korea.

Ramos got the ball rolling at the day’s opening event with a second-place sweep on snatch (73kg), clean and jerk (88kg), and total (161kg), bowing only to Thai Siriwimon Pramongkhol’s dominant golden rally of 77kg in snatch and 100kg in clean and jerk for a 177kg total.

Rose Jean’s elder sister Rosegie also competed in the first group of the women’s 49kg category, notching first place in snatch with an 84kg lift, while fellow Filipina Lovely Inan rose to second at clean and jerk off a 103kg effort.

Unlike Rose Jean’s category, Rosegie and Inan will have to wait and see how they fared against another women’s 49kg group in order to determine their final place in the standings.

Five more Filipinos are on deck to bring pride and possibly more gleaming hardware to the country, starting with John Ceniza at men’s 61kg on Saturday, May 6, 10 am (Manila time).

Reigning Olympic 55kg champion Hidilyn Diaz then takes the stage for her 59kg debut on Sunday, May 7, 5 pm (Manila time), setting up titanic clashes with fellow Olympians like Elreen Ando, who moved down from 64kg, and Kuo Hsing-chun of Taiwan.

Wrapping up the Philippine contingent’s schedule on Tuesday, May 9, 2 pm (Manila time) are Vanessa Sarno and Kristel Macrohon, who will both scrap for medals at the women’s 71kg category. – Rappler.com