By Nick Giongco
The country’s Olympic heroes the last 25 years – silver medalists Onyok Velasco and Hidilyn Diaz – sparkled like gold Wednesday night during the first Siklab Awards held at the Century Park Hotel.
Diaz, who took the weightlifting silver in Rio 2016, was radiant in a blue dress.
Velasco, the pint-sized puncher who brought home the light-flyweight silver from Atlanta in 1996, was dressed in a dark sports coat and was bubbly as always.
Diaz, recipient of the night’s top award alongside Velasco, urged the promising athletes in attendance of the important of dreaming big.
“Just keep on dreaming, live your dreams but you have to work hard for your dreams to come true,” said Diaz.
Then 22 years old, Velasco, whose finals battle with Bulgarian Daniel Petrov Bojilov, brought the entire nation on its knees, had the same piece of advice.
Diaz, who had failed in her Olympic stints in Beijing (2008) and London (2012), remains in competitive form and her ultimate goal is to medal again in Tokyo 2020.
A project of the PSC-POC Media Group, the awards night promises to become even bigger in the following years with the usual cooperation of the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee and title sponsor Phoenix Fuels.
