Puentevella hunting for Chinese coach

The Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas (SWP) is looking for a Chinese coach who will not only help the elite hone for overseas campaigns but to assist the other coaches in their mentoring duties.

SWP chief Monico Puentevella told DAILY TRIBUNE that finding a new mentor will help bolster the skill set of the Filipino lifters and ease the burden on the shoulders of the other coaches.

“We are trying to get a Chinese coach to assist us, to help our national coaches because we have more athletes now than before,” Puentevella said.

“Because we have more lifters, we need one more coach. I’m trying to negotiate with my Chinese friends to have one Chinese coach.”

“I’m going to try and get the approval of the Philippine Sports Commission for this.”

Hiring a Chinese coach has done wonders for SWP in the past.

Kaiwen Gao was Hidilyn Diaz’s coach in 2018 as she bagged the 18th Asian Games gold medal in the women’s 53-kilogram category in Indonesia.

Three years later, Diaz pulled off a miracle as she clinched the Philippines’ first-ever Olympic gold medal after winning the women’s 55-kg event at the Tokyo Summer Games.

With competitions like the International Weightlifting Federation World Championships and the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand happening this year, Puentevella said they have more time to assemble the best lifters the Philippines has to offer.

“That’s a long time. We have so much time for tryouts,” he added.