He, however, finished with a milestone.
John Ceniza, one of the Philippines' top weightlifting prospects, fell a few kilograms short of a medal in the IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
Ceniza finished 5th out of 44 competitors in the men's 61-kilogram category after lifting a total of 296 kilograms—131 in the snatch and 165 in the clean and jerk.
World record-holder Li Fabin of China won the gold medal after tallying a total of 308 kilograms. Joining him on the podium were Sergio Massidda of Italy and Li's teammate Ding Hongjie with overall lifts of 302 and 301 kilograms, respectively.
The 25-year-old Ceniza, who hails from Cebu, recorded his best finish yet in four consecutive appearances in the annual tournament. He is also a two-time silver medalist in the Southeast Asian [SEA] Games.
He is gunning for a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Li, Massidda, and Shota Mishvelidze of Georgia were the top three finishers in the snatch, earning them medals as well. Hampton Morris of the United States, Li, and Aniq Kasdan of Malaysia, meanwhile, ruled the podium in the clean and jerk.
The Philippines has yet to win a medal in this year's IWF World Weightlifting Championships after Rosegie Ramos and Lovely Inan also missed the podium in the women's 49-kilogram category on Tuesday.
The country, however, has a good chance to change that with Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and SEA Games gold medalist Elreen Ando both competing in the women's 59-kilogram slate on Saturday at 12 a.m. Manila time.
In last year's edition in Bogota, Diaz swept the three gold medals in the 55-kilogram category.