AN Olympic silver medallist and an Asian Games gold medalist, now Filipino weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz is a Southeast Asian Games gold winner.
Achieved the feat after topping the women’s 55-kg division on Monday, Ms. Diaz, 28, said she is proud of her latest achievement more so that it happened in front of his family, friends and the hometown fans.
“I could not have done this without the support of the people here,” said Ms. Diaz as she was flanked by media and supporters after her gold medal conquest.
“I felt some nervousness but the support of the people inspired me to do well,” she added.
The Rio Olympic silver medallist on her way to the gold lifted 91 kilograms in the snatch and 120 in the clean and jerk for a total of 211, eclipsing the 207 total points she had in the last Asian Games in 2018.
Finishing with the silver was Vietnam’s Thi Thuy Nguyen (197) while Indonesia’s Juliana Klarisa (175) earned bronze.
Ms. Diaz, who had her parents watching on the stands as she went for the gold, said hard work in the lead-up really paid off for her.
“I’m happy that the hard work we put in paid off. A couple of months back I must admit I wasn’t ready because the IWF World Championships just ended but we persevered to get back in top form and now we’re here with the gold,” she said.
Ms. Diaz went on to say that she was happy with the number of people who came to watch the weightlifting event, saying it was encouraging and that hopefully more attention and support be given to the sport.
Now that her SEA Games goal had been achieved, Ms. Diaz returns her focus on being able to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Games through a number of qualifying events next year. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
