Triumphant Pinoy athletes back in Manila

Three Filipino athletes that won in various international tournaments last week returned from the country before dawn on Wednesday. Teenage powerlifter Patricia Llena, and boxers Z Gorres and Donnie “Ahas" Nietes arrived in Manila on board Philippine Airlines flight (PR-103) from Los Angeles. The fifteen-year-old Llena, competing in her first international tournament, bagged three gold medals and a bronze in the 2009 World Sub-Junior & Junior Powerlifting Championships in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV She defeated five of the world’s best junior weightlifters in the women’s J18 60-kg division making golden lifts of 170kgs in the squat, another 170kgs in the deadlift and 80kg in the bench press for a 420-kg total. The pride of San Antonio, Nueva Ecija fell short of sweeping the four gold medals at stake in her division as her 80kg lift in the bench press was only good for third place. However, she was able to set a new Asian subjunior bench press record with that lift. Kendra Miller of US and Yana Talybora of Russia came in second and third behind the Filipina youngster with identical total lifts of 405 kgs Miller also won the gold in the bench press with 87.5 kgs and bagged the silver in the deadlift with 157.5 kgs. Aside from a bronze in the total lift, Talybora also got the silver in the deadlift (167.5 kgs) and squat (87.5 kgs) plus another bronze in the bench press (150 kgs). Nietes and Gorres became Filipino boxing champions after beating separate foes last Saturday.

Nietes won via split decision to retain his World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimum­weight crown against Mexican challenger Manuel “Chango" Vargas, while Gorres whipped Cruz Carvajal in a non-championship bantamweight bout at the Tepic, Nayarit in Mexico. Nietes, who is one of the country’s five current world champions, prevailed on the score cards of two judges, 116-110 and 118-110 to offset the 116-110 score that the third judge credited to hometown boy Vargas. The 27-year-old Nietes thus hiked his ring record to 25-1 (13 KOs), nailing his 12th straight victory while maintaining his position in the elite club of Filipino world champions. The pride of Murcia, Bacolod City is in the company of IBO light welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, WBA interim super flyweight boss Nonito Donaire, Jr., IBF light flyweight kingpin Brian Viloria, and 19-year-old WBO super flyweight champ Marvin Sonsona. It was Nietes’ third defense of the 105-lb belt which he won during his battle for the vacant title with Pornsawan Porpranook in 2007 in Cebu. Nietes, who got his nickname for having a pet snake that he used to bring along his fights, also pulled off his second successful defense on hostile ground, having dispatched Ramirez via unanimous decision last February in Oaxaca, Mexico. Vargas dropped to 26-4-1. In the undercard, Filipino prospect Gorres hacked out an injury-induced six-round stoppage of his Mexican foe, former world bantamweight champion Cruz Carbajal. Fighting two divisions above his regular super flyweight class, Gorres bucked a cut above his right eyelid caused by accidental headbutts in the third in outgunning the older Carbajal throughout their abbreviated fight, BoxingScene.com reported. Carbajal claimed he injured his left arm and the fight was waved off by referee Alberto Ramos at the 0:02 mark of the sixth stanza. The 27-year-old Gorres, who staggered Carbajal with an overhead right in the first round, said he felt the rust from his seven-month break from fighting. Gorres, who made his first fight in Mexico, improved to 30-2-2 (17 KOs) and extended his win-run to three since his controversial 12-round draw with Vic Darchinyan in 2008 in Cebu. Carbajal, 35, slipped to 29-17-2 (25 KOs). – GMANews.TV