BY WAYLON GALVEZ
Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz is looking for a favorable decision by the International Weightlifting Federation as the board is set to meet March 18 and 19 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The federation is expected to tackle the cancelation of many Olympic Qualifying Tournaments or OQTs in different parts of the world like the Asian Championship next month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Diaz was originally set to compete in the Asian Championship, but after its cancelation, she opted – and allowed by the IWF – to join the South American-Ibero American and Open Senior’s Championship slated March 18-25 in Cali, Colombia.
However, a travel ban imposed by the Colombian government on Asians and Europeans forced Diaz to skip an important tournament, which should have been her sixth and final OQT to formalize her entry to this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Now, she is waiting advisory from the IWF.
“We don’t know yet, hihintayin pa namin ang decision ng IWF,” said Diaz in a message to The Bulletin.
Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas (SWP) chief Monico Puentevella said he has proposed to the IWF to accept five OQTs instead of the original six because of the current health crisis.
At the moment, Diaz is at No. 5 in the 55kg women’s category with 3,717.0982 points, behind Chinese weightlifters in Jiang Huihua (4,667.8878), Liao Qiuyun (4,288.9622), Zhang Wangqiong (4,212.6639) and Li Yajun (4,099.0223). Only one athlete per country, however, will get an Olympic spot.
Other local weightlifters needing to compete for their sixth OQT but whose tournaments were called off are Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Kristel Macrohon, Rio Olympic veteran Nestor Colonia, as well as Eileen Ando, John Ceniza and Mary Flor Diaz.
Diaz is currently training in Malaysia and she has been in the Kuala Lumpur for a month now with the rest of her team, which include Chinese head coach Kaiwen Gao and strength and conditioning mentor Julius Naranjo.
She posted a video on her Instagram from a previous competition in the Roma World Cup where she bagged the gold medal in the 55kg women’s category, and it also included a lengthy caption of the struggles everybody is facing and hope of bouncing back from this Covid-19.
“There are things we can’t control and we can’t do anything,” said Diaz.“The effects of N-Covid19 is something unimaginable. Most of my Olympic Qualification events are postponed or cancelled, travel ban, city lockdown and country lockdown.
“Panic, fears and frustration is controlling us right now.”
