DELOS SANTOS BREAKS HIS OWN JUNIOR WORLD RECORD IN EGYPT

Pinoy weightlifter Albert Ian Delos Santos bagged a gold medal and set a new world record after cleanly lifting 187 kilograms at the 71 kg match in the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) in Ismailia, Egypt.

“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,” Delos Santos shared.

Delos Santos succeeded with a 326 kg that enabled him to snatch the gold medal, followed by India's Yash Khandagale, who had an accumulation of points of 309 kg, and Jimmy Lopez of Ecuador, who had a total of 301 kg.

Despite his struggles, he proved his dedication to weightlifting even after an injury, and he was still mourning—he stated that apart from his dream, he did his utmost best to honor his late father, Alvin Delos Santos, who died because of liver cancer two months ago.

"I wore myself out, and two Saturdays ago I injured my 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,” he shared.

IWF said that after the match, Delos Santos ran to his mom and kissed the photo of his father and shouted, “I did it for him! I did it for him! ”.

He is now training under Julius Naranjo, who is the husband of the Philippines' first Olympic gold medalist, Hidilyn Diaz.