BY WAYLON GALVEZ
Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz is not taking any chances for now with regards to joining other Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs) to earn a spot in the Tokyo Olympics.
Diaz said that while there are few more available tournaments in other regions, doing so could be unsafe due to the spread of the Novel Coronavirus or Covid-19, which is now a pandemic.
“Sa ngayon hindi na muna po kinu-consider. Medyo risky na,” said Diaz, who is currently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Ayoko din ma-quarantine ng 14 days na walang training tapos sayang din and pera… yung pang airfare ticket if magtry kami ulit,” added Diaz, who is with her Chinese mentor Kaiwen Gao and strength and conditioning coach Julis Naranjo in KL.
There is an OQT next month, the Pan-American Championship in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The 28-year-old Diaz was supposed to compete in the Asian Championship scheduled April 16 to 25, and that her training camp in the Malaysian capital is part of her preparation for the said OQT.
However, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) postponed it after Kazakhstan backed out as host, and then Uzbekistan begged off to stage it when it was offered to stage the OQT – both because of Covid-19.
Diaz was supposed to join the South American-Ibero American and Open Senior’s Championship slated this week in Cali, Colombia, but a travel ban was imposed on Asians and Europeans participanys.
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 will get an Olympic spot.Diaz is one short of the required six OQTs by the IWF.
Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas (SWP) chief Monico Puentevella said he has proposed to the IWF – set to meet this week in Lausanne, Switzerland – to accept five OQTs instead of the original six because of the current health crisis.
