Pinay powerlifting teen wins 3 golds in Brazil

Another wonder for all filipinos all around the world!! A young teen won Gold for the weight lifting competition held in Brazil! A young filipina girl at that even! Read the full story below…all this taken from Good News Pinoy

Patricia Llena bagged 3 gold medals and a single bronze at the International Powerlifting Federation World Sub-Junior and Junior Championships in Brazil.

The 15 year old Filipina competed against the top lifters from Russia, USA, Japan, and Canada and won the overall gold in the women’s sub-junior (14-17 years old), 60kg category with a total lift of 420kg.

Her two other gold medals were in the squat and deadlift events, with lifts of 170kg each. Llena’s benchpress of 80kg was enough to get her the bronze medal.

“We are all very proud of Patricia’s performance. She lifted very well, considering the very long trip to Brazil and the fact that she arrived with only one rest day before the competition. In fact, her American and Russian rivals are both world champions, so she did very well indeed,” declared Elvira Lorenzo, secretary general of the Powerlifting Association of the Philippines (PAP), the sport’s governing body in the country.

“Patricia and her team almost didn’t make the trip because of lack of funding, but we are very grateful to the Philippine Sports Commission for recognizing the achievements of Philippine powerlifters, and particularly Patricia’s potential, and generously funding her trip.”

This year’s International Powerlifting Federation World Sub-Junior and Junior Championships in Ribeirao Preto-SP, Brazil brought in sub-junior (14-17 years old) and junior (18-23 years old) competitors from all over the world including USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Slovakia, Kazakhstan and others.

The Sub-Junior and Junior Championships is an annual event, and among the dozens of powerlifting competitions sanctioned by the IPF, the world governing body for powerlifting. “It was a very long trip to Brazil, and we were very worried about Patricia’s condition, especially because she needed to lose about one kilogram to make the 60kg category. This being her first international powerlifting competition, she also had to deal with nerves. She did very well and deserves her medals.

She trained very hard for this event with her father/coach, Leonard,” said Nick Cabalza, head of delegation and vice president of PAP. Powerlifting consists of 3 lifting events – squat, benchpress and deadlift. Each competitor is given 3 attempts in each event to lift their best. The best lifts in each of the three events are added to arrive at the total score. Medals are given for the individual events and total score.