Hidilyn Diaz exercises with the weights in front of Chinese mentor Kaiwen Gao and strengthening/conditioning coach Julius Irvin Naranjo at the weighlifting gym inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila. (Waylon Galvez)
By Waylon Galvez
With less than two weeks left before leaving for Rome to compete in the 2020 World Cup, Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz has been doing twice-a-day training during the holidays to attain maximum form.
“Ready na ako,” said Diaz, catching her breath after doing a repetition of combined sprint and drills with an 8kg medicine ball for 10 minutes last Monday at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.
“Training sa umaga, and then training uli ako sa hapon,” added the 28-year-old native of Zamboanga City.
In her morning sessions, Diaz does strengthening and conditioning workouts with coach Julius Irvin Naranjo, while focus in the afternoon sessions is on perfecting her techniques under Chinese mentor Kaiwen Gao.
Diaz and her team composed of Naranjo, Gao and massage therapist Belen Bañas will leave for Rome on Jan. 18 to get acclimatized and continue training before the Jan. 27 to 31 event.
A gold medalist in the 2018 Asian Games, Diaz also won the bronze medal during the world championship in 2017 in the 53kg category in Anaheim and last year in the 55kg division in Pattaya, Thailand.
Diaz participated in the same 53kg category event when she won the gold medal in the Asian Games in Indonesia and when she pocketed the silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil.
This time, she is back in the 55kg category where she is more comfortable.
“That’s my goal, to finish in the top three,” said Diaz.
“Maganda ang training kasi naibalik ko na yung dati kong lakas, at yung kumpiyansa ko bumalik na. Confident naman ako na maganda ang maipapakita ko sa Rome kasi maganda yung training ko since last year sa China and Taiwan.”
After winning her first gold medal in the 30th Southeast Asian Games here the previous month, Diaz improved her raking points to 3.632.0672.
Currently leading in the 55kg category are Chinese weightlifters Jiang Huihua (4,667.8878), Liao Qiuyun (4,288.9622), Zhang Wanqiong (4,212.6639) and Li Yajun (4,099.0223), while at No. 6 is Muattar Nabieva of Uzbekistan (3,519.9108), Yenny Sinisterra of Colombia at No. 7 (3,432. 7232) and Kazakhstan’s Zulfiya Chinshanlo at No. 8 (3,413.5078).
Under the IWF rules, athletes can earn points by joining different OQTs with corresponding levels.
Tournaments like the world championships or world cup is categorized as gold status, continental and regional meets – including the SEA Games – are silver, while invitational events is bronze.
With the support of the Philippine Sports Commission led by chairman Butch Ramirez and the MVP Sports Foundation under Al Panlilio, Diaz will also compete in the Asian Championship in Kazakhstan, her last OQT before the Tokyo Olympics scheduled July 24 to August 9.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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