Big lift from powerlifters

Just when Philippine sports badly needed something to cheer about, powerlifters Adeline Dumapong and Antonio Taguibao quickly provided the answer.

Dumapong, 26, won a bronze medal in the recently-concluded Sydney Paralympic Games while Taguibao, 44, won three golds and a bronze in the 20th World Master Powerlifting Championships last month in the Czech Republic.

Dumapong, polio-stricken since she was three, delivered in the bench press competition with her best lift of 110 kg. A lifter from Great Britain won the gold (135 kg) while an Egyptian bagged the silver (120 kg).

Taguibao, a lieutenant colonel with the Presidential Security Group, won his first two golds in the squat and dead lift events on his way to a third as overall champion of the event reserved for powerlifters aged 40 and above. He won the bronze in the bench press.

"I’m so happy with my achievement because as an athlete, winning a medal in any competition is what you aim for," said Dumapong, of Ifugao Province, in yesterday’s PSA Sports Forum at the Holiday Inn Hotel. "Now, I’m looking forward to Athens in 2004."

"I would like to share this victory with all my supporters. Lalo na sa mga superiors ko at sa teammate ko na si Renato Dio. They supported me all the way," said Taguibao, who was joined in the forum by Powerlifting Association of the Philippines head Nick Cabalsa.

Mike Barredo, Philspada president, said Dumapong’s feat should serve as an inspiration to the rest of the country’s special athletes. "If the question is how to encourage them, then I think Adeline has set the example," he said. – Abac Cordero