Delos Santos bucks injury, dad’s passing with record lift at junior worlds

MANILA, Philippines — For some, death in the family can sometimes undo a person in so many different ways.

Not for Filipino lifter Albert delos Santos.

Showing great resolve and iron will, Delos Santos overcame back injury and the recent passing of his father Alvin in copping a pair of gold medals and setting a new world junior clean and jerk record in the IWF World Junior Championships in Ismailia, Egypt Monday.

From 136 kilograms in the snatch of the boys’ -71 kg section, Delos Santos summoned the last of his reserves and lifted a 175 kg at first and then a record-setting 186 kg in the next in seizing the clean and jerk gold as well as the one in total after accumulating 326 kg.

So impressive was the 19-year-old Zamboanga native that beat his closest pursuer Yash Khandagaleb of Iran by a whopping 17 kg.

Ecuadorian Jimmy Lopez took the bronze with a 301 kg.

“I did it for him,” said the Asian junior champion, who injured his back a week before the competition after he pushed himself in training so hard just less than two months after his dad succumbed to liver cancer.

Miraculously, he recovered in time for this one special moment.

And this is the reason why Delos Santos is being tipped as one of the country’s next potential Olympic medalists.

“A star is born,” said Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella.

Angeline Colonia, for her part, pocketed a pair of silver in snatch and total in the women’s -48 kg.