Ismailia, Day 3: Photo Gallery
Photos by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia [gallery size="large"
Ismailia, Day 3: ‘I did it for dad’ – from grief to glory for Philippines’ triple world champion Delos Santos
Albert Delos Santos from the Philippines and Thanaporn Saetia from Thailand both won world titles for a third time and China lost its 100 per cent record on a memorable day at the IWF World Junior Championships in Ismailia, Egypt. Delos Santos ran off the platform to hug his mother, Diwa, at the end of the 71kg session. When she produced a photo of her late husband, Delos Santos kissed it and said, “I did it for him! I did it for him!” Albert Delos Santos (PHI) Two months ago Delos Santos lost his father to liver cancer. His grief was so profound he injured himself, and was physically and mentally drained during his preparations for a shot at his third straight world title. “I deviated from my coach’s percentages in training and wanted to do every lift for my dad. It was my way of trying to get over the pain,” he said. “I wore myself out, and two Saturdays ago I injured by back. “I couldn’t even walk for a couple of days. I felt so bad, I was in a deep void. I had only a week to train for this and I was trembling out there, but my dad was with me all the way. This was for him.” There was plenty of time for Delos Santos to fret before his winning lift. After his final snatch of 139kg there were the last few snatches and 27 clean and jerk attempts to come, plus the 10-minute interval, before he was back on the platform. Everybody else had finished. Yash Khandagale (IND) Delos Santos is a clean and jerk specialist who is used to making up ground after the break. He came out to make 175kg to secure the title, then jumped 12kg to better his own clean and jerk junior world record. He even had the bar loaded at 190kg to try for the world record on total, but he failed and finished 17kg clear on 139-187-326. Delos Santos, who will be 20 in August, was Youth champion in 2023 at 61kg and a Junior winner last year at 67kg. After today, his big targets for the year are the Asian Games and the senior World Championships in Japan and China. His coach is Julius Naranjo, husband of the Olympic gold medallist Hidilyn Diaz. His late father, Alvin, and Diwa were both weightlifters and Diwa, who worked alongside Naranjo today, is a national coach. If it was a long delay for Delos Santos between lifts, there was an even longer wait for confirmation of his medals for Yash Khandagale from India. He posted 140-169-309 from the B Group and sat watching the A session in the auditorium. “Yes it was a long wait but very exciting - I’m really happy with that,” he said. Khandagale took silver in snatch, bronze in clean and jerk and silver on total. Jimmy Lopez from Ecuador finished third on total despite being eighth in snatch and fourth in clean and jerk. He made 134-167-301. The men's 71kg podium It was a crowded podium. Narek Grigoryan from Armenia won snatch gold on 144kg before bombing out, fifth-placed Revaz Mildiani from Georgia took snatch bronze on 140-160-300 and Hovhannes Hovhannisyan from Armenia, fourth on total, won silver in clean and jerk on 130-171-301. Thanaporn Saetia (THA) Saetia just failed with a snatch world record attempt when she won the 63kg on 100-125-225, taking a sweep of golds. Like Delos Santos, she won Youth and Junior titles in 2023 and last year, at 64kg then 59kg. Saetia made five from six while Jiang Yanfang from China made four. Jiang, second in last year’s World Juniors at 64kg behind team-mate Yang Liuye, was second again after she missed twice in snatch and finished 95-124-219. The women's 63kg podium Diana Bellorin from Venezuela was third on 92-115-207. Ziyoda Khudoykulova from Uzbekistan took snatch bronze on 93kg and Lidett Miramontes from Venezuela was third in clean and jerk on 115kg. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio
Ismailia, Day 2: Photo Gallery
Photos by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia [gallery size="large"
Ismailia, Day 2: Two more titles for China, medal number four for Egypt’s Aly and a good day for Argentina’s female ‘John Wick’
China maintained its 100 per cent record at the IWF World Junior Championships with two more victories in Egypt. That made it five from five in two days in Ismailia, where only one national anthem has been heard so far. There were three world records on the day, one for China in the juniors and one each at youth level for Moldova and Kazakhstan. Egypt had its first medal of the week on total, and there was a colourful group celebration after the women’s 58kg by three Latin American teams who all won medals, Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela. Ye Xinye (CHN) Unfortunately for the Kazakhstan world record athlete, 17-year-old Beibarys Yerseit, he left the platform on a stretcher after injuring his left knee in his first clean and jerk attempt. Both of China’s champions were competing internationally for the first time. Ye Xinye set a snatch world record in making 100-120-220 in the women’s 58kg, and Wang Liqian made 138-164-302 at 65kg. Wang’s team-mate Wan Jinping was second and Elsayed Aly from Egypt was third, making it four medals in four years at the World Juniors. Elsayed Aly (EGY) Two snatch world records fell in quick succession at 58kg but seven further record attempts were unsuccessful. Nicoleta Cojocaru from Moldova was the first record-breaker of the Championships when she bettered the world youth mark on 91kg. The 16-year-old went for more records but failed twice in clean and jerk, finishing sixth on 91-106-197. Yasmine Mohamed from Egypt, also 16, went for youth records in snatch, clean and jerk and total but did not make any of them. She was fifth on 88-110-198 in her first IWF competition. Beibarys Yerseit (KAZ) Ye took the junior snatch record on 100kg and finished 7kg clear. “I have hit a snatch of 100kg couple of times in training,” she said. “Overall, it was a bit below my expectations as my technique didn’t perform well during the competition. But this was my first time on the international stage, so I’m fairly satisfied with my result.” Her ambition is to step on to the Olympic platform, just like her favourite lifter Li Wenwen, the double Olympic super-heavyweight champion. “Li Wenwen is fearless and competitive on the platform, and off the platform she is a great sister who often helps us in solving technical problems,” said Ye. Maria Paz Casadevall (ARG) Joseline Lopez from Mexico, who was seventh last year and 10th in 2024 at lighter weights, was second on 92-121-213 – a 22kg improvement on her previous best total. Lopez failed with a clean and jerk world record attempt on 126kg. Third place went to Maria Paz Casadevall from Argentina. Two years ago she became Argentina’s first ever weightlifting world champion when she took the youth title at 59kg as a 16-year-old, and last year she was third in the Juniors. Nicoleta Cojocaru (MDA) Casadevall made it three World Championships medals in three years, this time at a lighter weight, on a career-best 91-115-206. “I can make 220 in the 61kg (Olympic) category,” she said. Her coach Roman Gorosito said, “I know she can do it in Olympic qualification because Paz fights like John Wick (in the Hollywood film series). She never gives up, she keeps improving.” Casadevall came to the sport in her home town of San Jorge because her elder sister, Maria Luz, was a weightlifter. Last week Maria Luz, 25, won the 58kg Pan American title on 214kg. Joseline Lopez (MEX) After her famous youth win two years ago, Maria Paz said of her sister, “I compete against her but I haven’t beaten her yet.” How about now? “No, we are level with each other - but it will happen next year!” Venezuela’s medallist was Yilihannys Jimenez, third in snatch and fourth overall on 92-113-205. Wang Liqiang had a sweep of golds and missed only one attempt, his last at 166kg. Wan was fifth after two snatch failures but finished second on 132-165-297. He had a chance at gold but 171kg was beyond him on his final attempt. Elsayed Aly, whose World Juniors record reads second in 2023, third in 2024 and champion last year, all at 61kg, was on the podium again for Egypt in his final year as a junior. He made 131-160-291 for bronze in clean and jerk and total. Samoel Rrasa won snatch silver for Albania and finished fourth with a five-from-six 134-156-290. Snatch bronze went to A Tieu from Vietnam, fifth on 134-155-289. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio
Ismailia, Day 1: Photo Gallery
All photos by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia [gallery size="large"
Ismailia, Day 1: Three out of three for China on a day of Asian dominance
Former world champions were left behind as China won all three medal events on the opening day of the IWF World Junior Championships in Ismailia, Egypt. Seven of the nine medals on total went to Asian athletes. K Duong from Vietnam and Angeline Colonia from the Philippines have collectively competed 18 times in IWF competitions, have both won junior world titles and have had 10 major victories between them. But in the first two A sessions – women’s 48kg and men’s 60kg - their experience was not enough to help them overcome China’s juniors. When China made it three from in the women’s 53kg, two former youth world champions were among those beaten. Kang Lixin (CHN) Three of the four Chinese athletes in action today were lifting for the first time internationally. The one with previous experience, Kang Lixin, had competed on an international platform only once before. That was at the Asian Junior Championships last year in Kazakhstan, where he failed with three attempts and finished 9kg behind the double junior world champion K Duong at 60kg. This time he made five from six and matched K Duong’s clean and jerk junior world record, as well as the world standard on total, on 126-164-290. K Duong (VIE) Kang’s 17-year-old team-mate Kuang Chengmin was second on 127-162-289 and K Duong third with only two good lifts on 125-157-282. It was a 17kg swing in Kang’s favour in his second meeting with K Duong - how did he do that? “My preparation for these Championships was 100 per cent,” said Kang, who took up the sport at school when he was 11. “I’m happy with those numbers, which are a reflection of what I have been doing in training, and very excited about the result.” He was 20 in February and is the oldest member of China’s 13-strong team. Among China’s juniors not selected for Ismailia is Yuan Hao, who set the snatch world record of 132kg in this age group when he was fifth at the senior World Championships seven months ago. China’s female champions were Zeng Zailian at 48kg and Peng Tianfeng at 53kg. Zeng Zailian (CHN) Zeng made 81-108-189 to finish 12kg clear of Angeline Colonia from the Philippines, a junior world champion in 2024 who made 80-97-177. Rebeka Groulx from Canada was the day’s only Pan American medallist, making 77-97-174 for third place. Suthasini Kaeosingkhon from Thailand, fourth on 77-96-173, won snatch bronze. At 53kg two former youth world champions were out of the medals - Colonia’s team-mate Jhodie Peralta and Ogulshat Amanova from Turkmenistan. Peng made five from six for 90-113-203. Natcha Kaewnoi from Thailand was second on 87-108-195 and Maria Stratoudaki from Greece was Europe’s top performer in third place on 86-102-188, a career best by 5kg. Maria Stratoudaki (GRE) Stratoudaki was presented with her medals, in snatch and total, by Pyrros Dimas. She also finished third at the Youth Worlds in 2023, when she was 14. The host nation won a medal when Basma Ramadan took bronze in clean and jerk on 106kg. Two of China’s champions, Kang and Zeng, outperformed the recent winning seniors’ totals at the European and Pan American Championships. Athletes from China could make it five from five on day two, when they have the highest entry totals in the women’s 58kg and men’s 65kg. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio
