Lily Pecante stamped her class anew by bagging two bronze medal in the prestigious World Open Powerlifting Championships held in Haryana, India, from November 1 to 7.
Pecante lifted a total of 542.5 kilograms (kg) good enough for third spot behind eventual champion Valeria Shcheglova of Russia (655kg) and Lelja Strik of the Netherlands (650kg).
She also took another bronze in squat event (215kg).

“It’s overwhelming to win my first bronze medal in total event because it is a higher achievement than my gold medal in the any other events [deadlift, benchpress and squat],” said the 45-year-old powerlifter, who also broke her own Asian Masters and Philippine records of 541kg.

Pecante is currently ranked No. 3 in the world, the only Filipino powerlifter to achieve such a feat.
“My hard work paid off and I’m looking forward to bring more medals to our country with the help of all your prayers and support,” added Pecante.

Overall, Pecante has 10 gold and two bronze medals in the bag this year.
She won four gold medals each in the World Masters Powerlifting Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic in September and in the Asian Powerlifting Championships in Udaipur, India in May.
Pecante added one gold each in the Asian Bench Press Championship also held in India in August, and in the World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in July.

“There are more prestigious tournaments that we will be participating like the 2010 edition of the World Masters and the Asian Championships,” added national head coach Eddie Torres during the weekly Scoop Forum sa Kamayan in Padre Faura, Manila.

EMIL C. NOGUERA