Philippine weightlifting continues to produce potential Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo successors, and Althea Bacaro could be one of them.
This, after Bacaro scooped up a couple of gold medals in the 2026 Asian Youth and Junior Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan Saturday.
The 15-year-old University of Cebu ninth-grader seized the clean and jerk gold with a 183-kilogram lift and then added another one in total where she had a 146kg, making up for a fourth-place finish in snatch where she tallied 63kg in the youth women’s 45kg class.
It came just a month after Bacaro raked in a silver and a bronze in the World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia, and a year after she copped a silver and a bronze also in the worlds in Lima, Peru.
Interestingly, Bacaro has trained under the guidance of Christopher Bureros – coach of two-time Olympian and Southeast Asian Games gold winner Elreen Ando, who is preparing for next month’s Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.
Jay-R Colonia, who comes from the same Zamboanga City stable where Diaz-Naranjo is from, chipped in two silvers in the clean and jerk (135kg) and total (243kg) and a bronze in snatch (108kg) in the youth men’s 55kg division.
More medals are expected to come in for the lean but mean 13-strong national squad as Aleksandra Ann Diaz (Youth and Junior W45kg), Angeline Colonia (Junior W49kg), Jhodie Peralta (Youth and Junior W53kg), Rosalinda Faustino (Junior W57kg), Kirby Kent Alas-as (Youth M60kg) and Prince Keil delos Santos (Junior M60kg) are among those scheduled to see action.
Also seeking medals are Mango Prince David Tarro (Junior M65kg), Jea Mae Palagtiw (Youth W69kg), Rhianne Cabalida (Youth W77kg) and Jerick Icon Castro (Youth M60kg).