FILIPINO pride Hidilyn Diaz is locked in on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after a promising haul of one silver and one bronze in the recent World Weightlifting Championships in Anaheim, California.
“I think I can still win in the next Olympics. I just need more practice and improve my skill. I really want to compete in 2020,” Diaz told Monday’s Philippine Sports Commission-Philippine Olympic Committee Sports Chat at the Cabanas inside the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
Diaz, accompanied by her coach Tony Agustin in the program, said the next two years give her enough window to qualify for her fourth Olympics after Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro, where she clinched a silver medal.
That silver was the country’s first Olympic medal since boxer Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco clinched the same color of medal in Atlanta 1994.
The 26-year-old lifter bagged silver in clean and jerk and bronze in snatch in the world championships.
“Hidilyn must join a series of competitions to scout her possible opponents in Tokyo. And the results from the world championships really showed that lifters from Asia are doing good,” Agustin said.
Thailand’s Sopita Tanasan humbled reigning Olympic champion Hsu-Shu Ching of Chinese Taipei with a total lift 210 kilograms in the 53-kg category in the Anaheim tournament.
Turkmenistan’s Kristina Shermetova lifted 204 kgs to take the silver, while Diaz finished third with a lift of 199 kgs.
“In the Philippines Hidilyn is the strongest among all lifters. We really need to expose her in international tournaments because her Asian rivals are getting stronger,” Agustin added.
Diaz gets back to school at College of Saint Benilde and will start training for the Indonesia Asian Games on January 8.