The 42nd edition of El Criollo, a traditional weightlifting tournament, begins on Thursday in Caguas, Puerto Rico. The event will feature around 150 weightlifters from Puerto Rico and the Caribbean region. According to Andrés Vargas, president of the Puerto Rico Weightlifting Federation, the tournament comes about a month before the World Weightlifting Championships in China, where Puerto Rico will be represented by Issi Agrait and Asia González, who won medals at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo.
Both athletes are currently training abroad, in Spain and the United States, respectively, and will not participate in El Criollo. However, Luis González, another medalist from the same games, will compete in the tournament. Vargas noted that the federation has been looking to athletes from the Puerto Rican diaspora to participate in the sport, a trend also seen in other sports such as basketball and athletics.
He emphasized that this approach is not new and has been ongoing for years, with athletes from the diaspora reaching out to represent Puerto Rico.