Hidilyn Diaz’s bid for Olympics qualification to be tested in Asian Championship

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

Prized Filipina weightlifter and Tokyo Olympics hopeful Hidilyn Diaz will be back in action after one year of inactivity.

Stuck in Malaysia due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Diaz and her camp decided to resume their intensive training there and will now be gearing up for the upcoming Asia Weightlifting Championship.

This will be Diaz’s first tournament after 12 months and will serve as an Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) and a warm-up competition.

“Kailangan ko din ng tune-up because more than one year ako walang competition and kailangan ko pang maglaro ng isa pa to qualify,” said Diaz.

The 30-year-old athlete will seek to notch the gold medal in the April 15 to 25 competition in Tashkent, Uzbekistan to clinch her fourth straight Olympics participation.

In the Rio De Janeiro 2016 Olympics, Diaz stunned the whole world after taking the silver medal to cement her name in the all-time weightlifting greats.

“Maraming nagtatanong kung bakit andito pa din ako. May pinaglalaban ako, kasi alam ko kaya nating manalo sa Olympics,” Diaz emphasized.