Diaz finally wins first SEA Games gold medal

Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2019 11:03:48 +0000

BY WAYLON GALVEZ

AFTER two failed attempts, Hidilyn Diaz finally earned her first gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games.

Already a gold medal winner in the Asian Games and a silver medalist in the Olympics, Diaz added to her collection the 55kg women’s category gold medal in the 30th SEA Games Monday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

In a display of what a world-class athlete she is, Diaz lifted a total of 211kg, a dominant performance in besting Vietnam’s Thi Thuy Nguyen, who placed second to claim the silver medal with 197kg, while Indonesia’s Juliana Klarisa came in third to settle with the bronze medal at 175kg.

Hidilyn Diaz finally nailedher first SEAG gold. Captured using Canon 5D Mark IV with 300mm f4 lens (Rio Leonelle Deluvio)

“Sobrang saya ko talaga, pinahandaan ko ito,” said Diaz, whose best finish in the biennial meet was a silver medal in two SEA Games editions – 2011 in Indonesia and 2013 in Myanmar.

Diaz said that aside from finally winning the gold medal here at home, what made her victory more special was the presence of her parents as her mother Emelita and father Eduardo watched and cheered her from the patron seats just beside the entrance of athletes.

As she exited to the warm up area after her last lift, Diaz pointed to the direction of her parents and smiled.

“First time ko na andito ang nanay at tatay ko. Medyo dun ako kinakabahan,” said Diaz. “Kasi alam ko nanay ko medyo nerbiyosa pagdating sakin. Pero masaya and excited din.”

“May pressure, buti na lang nagawa ko ng maayos. Lahat nagbunga. Two months before (the SEA Games) hindi ako ready kasi galing sa World Championships (last September in Thailand).”

Prior to the SEA Games, the 28-year-old Diaz had a month-long training in Taiwan together with Chinese mentor Kaiwen Gao, and conditioning/strengthening coach Julius Irvin Naranjo.

Her hard work and sacrifices in training paid off as the SEA Games also gave her points since the event serves as Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she is currently at fifth place – among eight outright qualifiers – in the 55kg women’s division.

After her lift at 88kg on her first attempt in snatch, the native of Zamboanga followed it up with a 91kg good lift. She tried to lift 94kg in her third and last try but she failed to complete the attempt.

Nevertheless, she topped the snatch category at 91kg, followed by Nguyen’s 82kg, Klarisa’s 80kg,
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