MANILA – Nine weightlifters, led by Olympian Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, will compete in the Southeast Asian Games (Seag) in Thailand next month.
Diaz-Naranjo, who delivered the country’s first gold medal (55kg) at the Tokyo Olympics, will see action in the 58kg category.
Others in the roster are Rosegie Ramos (W 48kg), Jhodie Peralta (W 53kg), Elreen Ann Ando (W 63kg), Kristel Macrohon (W 69kg), Fernando Agad Jr. (M 60kg), Dave Lloyd Pacaldo (M 65 kg), Albert Ian Delos Santos (M 71kg) and John Dexter Tabique (M 94kg).
Naranjo-Diaz won back-to-back gold medals in the Seag held in the Philippines (2019) and Vietnam (2021), but skipped the Cambodia edition (2023) to focus on the Asian Championships, one of the qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Peralta pocketed two medals, a gold (snatch) and bronze (clean and jerk), at the 3rd Asian Youth Games in Bahrain last month, while Ando, a two-time Olympian, won the bronze medal at the 2025 IWF World Championships in Forde, Norway.
Macrohon, a gold medalist at the 2019 Seag, tallied 236 kg. (105-131) to win three bronze medals at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Zhejiang, China last May. The Philippines also secured seven silver medals -- three each from Ando and Ramos, and one from Agad.
Delos Santos is optimistic about his debut in the Seag, scheduled from Dec. 9 to 22.
“It’s a dream to win the gold medal in the SEA Games. I will do my best to make it happen,” the second year financial management student from Universidad de Zamboanga said in an interview Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025.
Despite missing the podium at the World Youth and Junior Championships in Forde, Norway, last Oct. 6, Delos Santos registered a world junior record of 185kgs on his third attempt in the clean and jerk, finishing eighth in the men’s 71kg category. / PNA