Hidilyn Diaz trains under the watchful eyes of Chinese mentor Kaiwen Gao at the weightlifting gym inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila. (Waylon Galvez)
By WAYLON GALVEZ
The quest of Hidilyn Diaz to earn a second straight Olympic berth lies in the remaining three qualifying tournaments she is set to join, including the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here.
So far, Diaz is at No. 5 in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualification ranking system under the 55 kilogram category of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) with a total of 2,731.7699 points.
The top eight weightlifters earn outright spots to the Tokyo Games.
“Hindi lang SEA Games ang pinaghahandaan ko. May dalawa pa akong Tokyo Olympics qualifiers,” said Diaz yesterday.
“Ang preparasyon ko ngayon, so far so good. Bumabalik na yung lakas ko, this is my fourth competition or qualifier, so para sa akin importante na makapag-perform ako ng maayos (in the SEA Games).”
Currently leading in the 55 kg are Chinese weightlifters Jiang Huihua (3,492.7227), Liao Qiuyun (3,402.7612), Zhang Wanqiong (3,351.4374) and Li Yajun (3,209.3427), while at No. 6 is Muattar Nabieva of Uzbekistan (2,715.0661), Kazakhstan’s Zulfiya Chinshanlo at No. 7 (2,659.9042) and Maria Alexandra Escobas Guerrero of Ecuador at No. 8 (2,623.4874).
Under IWF rules, athletes can earn points by joining various qualifying tournaments with corresponding levels. Tournaments like the world championships or World Cup are categorized as gold status, continental and regional meets are silver, while invitational events are bronze.
After the SEA Games, the last two Olympic qualifying tournaments for Diaz are the Roma World Cup on Jan. 27 to 31, 2020 in Italy, and the 2020 Asian Championships on Apr. 16 to 25 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
Diaz became the country’s darling when she captured the silver medal in the 53kg category during the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil. Two years later, she captured the gold in the Asian Games in Indonesia.
The 28-year-old Diaz is set to leave this week for a month-long training camp in Taiwan, her second time in the country. She is expected to return home by late November.
Together with Chinese coach Kaiwen Gao, and conditioning and strengthening coach Julius Irvin Naranjo, Diaz said all she needs to improve in Taiwan is her focus to be able to perform well in the SEA Games, set Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.
Hidilyn Diaz gets assistance from strengthening/conditioning coach Julius Irvin Naranjo at the weightlifting gym inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila. (Waylon Galvez)
“Technique-wise kasi… kailangan ko pumunta sa Taiwan kasi kailangan ko makapag-focus. Coach Gao always tells me that good food, good sleep, good training are equal to good performance or good results,” said Diaz.
“Doon ko yun nakita sa Taiwan. Ngayon ang kailangan ko lang gawin is, nandun na yung lakas, kailangan ko lang talaga makapag-training ng maayos,” added Diaz, who is eyeing her first gold medal in the SEA Games.
Diaz said she is getting to her ‘game form’ as she ranks her self “7 or 8” out of 10, and she hopes to get to that level by the fourth week of November in time for the event as the SEA Games weightlifting competition at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
“Siyempre may one month pa to prepare for the SEA Games, pero, all in all, prepared na,” said Diaz.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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