By Romeo Braceros Jr.

With the ultimate goal of winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas (SWP) is considering hiring a foreign coach to supervise and train the national team, which includes the talented women's squad led by the young Vanessa Sarno.

Monico Puentevella, president of the SWP, stated that they are specifically looking for a female coach to assist the national lifters, including Sarno, a 19-year-old native of Tagbilaran, Bohol, who is being prepared to succeed Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo.

The coach chosen by the organization would fill the void left by another Chinese, Gao Kaiwen, who worked with Diaz-Naranjo for many years and helped her win three gold medals at the World Championships in addition to an Olympic title.

Gao, though, had already flown home and might never come back.

To develop another Filipino with Olympic gold potential into a world-beating athlete like Diaz-Naranjo, the SWP is looking for a new coach.

Sarno is one of the young athletes that the SWP hopes to develop into an Olympic contender because she already received recognition on a global scale at a very young age for her victories at the Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi and the Asian Championship.

Along with Rosegie, Rose Jean, Angeline Ramos, and Angeline Colonia, who all won gold at the World Junior Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, last July, the nation also produced Sarno.