Llena also blows bid in weightlifting

SINGAPORE – Patricia Llena also ended up the way Jessie Lacuna finished in the swimming final – out of the medal race – as she wound up fifth in the girls’ 63-kg division in weightlifting in the first Youth Olympic Games at the Toa Payoh Sports Hall here last night.

Llena turned in impressive lifts in the snatch but faltered in the clean and jerk as she failed in her second attempt at 100kg after clearing at 95kg.

She had a 178kg total in the event where each competitor is allowed to take three attempts at individually chosen weights in both the snatch and the clean and jerk with the best results achieved added to determine the ranking.

Still, it was a fine performance by the 16-year-old bronze medal winner in the Asian Weightlifting Championship in Uzbekistan, who did three successful snatches, starting at 75kg and progressing to a new personal best of 83 kilos.

With the country’s best bet for a medal in this inaugural staging of the event for 14-18 year-old athletes failing to achieve her goal and the 3-on-3 team on the verge of elimination, Team RP’s slim hopes rest on swimmers Jessie Lacuna (50m fly) and Jasmin Alkhaldi (200m free and 50m free).

Both tankers also failed in their respective bids early with Lacuna finishing eighth in the 200m free finals and Alkhaldi falling short of her final bid in the 100m free Monday.

Entering the clean and jerk, Llena was ranked No. 5 behind Russian Diana Akhmetova, Zhazira Zhapparkul of Kazakhstan, Aremi Fuentes of Mexico and Neslihan Okumus of Turkey. She started at 95 kg which she cleared then took 100kg in her second attempt which she failed in both tries.

“The decision to progress 5kg was a gamble but she had to do it to break into the medal rank,” said RP chef de mission Mark Joseph. “Many stronger seeded competitors than her also failed in their attempts. This is not a sport for the faint-hearted and Pat showed a big fighting heart.”

Zhapparkul snatched the gold medal with a big lift at 115kg in the clean and jerk, finishing with 205kg and beating Akhmetova, who settled for silver with 204kg.

Fuentes took the silver at 194kg while Okumus placed fourth with 193kg.

Michelle Kahi of Australia wound up sixth with 166kg while Jessica Beed of the US finished last at 165kg.

Meanwhile, Jason Patrombon advanced in the second round of the consolation pool after rival and former French Open singles champion Renzo Olivo of Argentina withdrew late Tuesday.