Fernando Agad Jr. will be looking to upgrade his medal haul when he sees action in the men’s 55-kilogram division in the Senior Asian Weightlifting Championships in Jiangshan, China from 9 to 15 May.

After bagging a bronze medal in last year’s IWF World Championships in Manama, Bahrain, Agad wants to pull off an even greater feat in the Asian meet in May.

The 22-year-old Cebuano weightlifter clinched the bronze medal after a total lift of 263 kilograms in the worlds.

“I should be prepared. In the Asian Championships, I need to do better and put in more effort like I did in the World Championships,” Agad said.

“I have set my target lifts for the tournament.”

Should Agad retain or do better than his total lift in the World Championships, he has a genuine chance of winning first or second place.

Last year’s men’s 55kg bronze medalist in the Asian Championships in Tashkent, Lại Gia Thành of Vietnam, only produced a total lift of 250kgs while the silver medalist Natthawat Chomchuen of Thailand had a total lift of 264kgs.

Pang Un-chol of North Korea, who won the gold medal, had a total lift of 266kgs.

Agad said he is getting pointers from Olympic weightlifters John Ceniza and Elreen Ando as he revs up for the Chinese tournament.

Getting tips from them is as easy as A-B-C. Ivan Suing

Agad is enrolled at University of Cebu, the same school where Ando and Ceniza studied.

“They are my teammates and my friends. They would tell me what I should do to be stronger and improve my lifts,” Agad said.