Nestor Colonia has already booked his SEA Games ticket last Philippine National Games in May where he lifted 284kg, enough to erase the 208kg Gold medal lift in 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia 58kg division.
He was then sent by PSC to China for three months to prepare for the most important biennial meet in the region; but after coming back from China, he has gained weight thus he had to participate again in the qualifying lift last Tuesday to test his potential in his new weight division, men’s 62kg.
Tamayo was disappointed after Colonia did not deliver.
Because of this, the SEA Games Task Force asked the Philippine Weightlifting Association to remove Colonia from the official list and replace him with Asian Junior Weightlifting champion, Jeffrey Garcia, along with Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting squad.
Twenty year old Garcia lifted 167kg clean and jerk, and 125kg snatch with a total of 270kg which is quite close to the SEA Games standard of 310kg in men’s 62kg division.
If Jeffrey Garcia will be officially included in the line-up though, he still has to reduce weight from 68kg to 62kg.
In the recent Asian Junior Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Garcia bagged two gold medals where he topped the clean and jerk and total lift in the junior men’s 62 kilogram division.
Nestor Colonia, meanwhile, won three silver medals — snatch, clean and jerk, and total in the 56 kilogram event.
Garcia took the gold despite finishing only sixth in the snatch with a lift of 115 kilograms. He hoisted 155 kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 270 kg.
Garcia actually tied Su Xingbao’s total but had a higher tiebreak score. Artykov Izzat of Kyrgyzstan took the bronze medal in the total event.
Around 400 weightlifters from 48 countries participated in the meet.
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