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 Scala/Deepbluemedia