WEIGHTLIFTING GETS FIRST PULL IN CITY OF NAGA

Asian Games gold medalist lauds CWA for grassroots program, thinks next weightlifting star will come from Cebu

STRONG IS THE NEW DOTA. Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz (center), who has put weightlifting to fore in the Philippines, visits the Sisters of Mary School Boystown in the City of Naga, Cebu. The school hosts the grassroots weightlifting program set up BY the Cebu Weightlifting Association.

Hidilyn Diaz won’t be the face of Philippine weightlifting forever. She will be 30 in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and 32 in the Asian Games 2022. She knows the Philippines will need a successor, another weightlifter who will take her place in international competitions.

Diaz, who is fresh from a gold medal finish in the 2018 Asian Games, believes that Cebu could be the next breeding ground for world-class weightlifters, and possibly her successor, because of the grassroots weightlifting program set up by the Cebu Weightlifting Association, headed by its president Felix Tiukinhoy, at the Sisters of Mary School (SMS) Boystown in Minglanilla.

“We will see weightlifting grow here in Cebu because of them (CWA). It’s a huge thing. I won’t be here forever to win a gold for the Philippines. I will grow old and they will follow my footsteps. I’m thankful that they have a program here in SMS Boystown. The attitude we need to have is from the core values. God is always first and I have seen it here. I’m very happy to be here in Cebu and in SMS Boytown. This is a huge boost for weightlifting,” the 27-year-old Diaz said yesterday at the SMS Boystown in front of a huge crowd of students.

The SMS Boystown already has a room ready at the side of the stage of their gym that will become the weightlifting room.

“This is nice,” said Diaz, upon seeing the room. “Me, I started weightlifting on soil. We didn’t have a room like this.”

Tiukinhoy believes that the SMS is a perfect recipient as their pilot school for the grassroots weightlifting program.

“We don’t have to look anywhere, we have more than 2,000 boys here,” he said.

Tiukinhoy also said that aside from the Boystown, they will also set up a grassroots weightlifting program at the Girlstown.

Diaz is thankful that she has inspired a lot of youngsters and that she has raised awareness to weightlifting because of his recent success in both the Asian Games and in the Olympics, wherein she got a silver.

“Two years after the Olympics, I told myself that I needed to win the gold in the Asian Games. This is all for us. I’m so thankful that there are other people that are also raising awareness in weightlifting here in the Philippines and also in Cebu. Boy Tiukinhoy has done everything to increase awareness here. It’s about preparation and a program, and the CWA has a program for weightlifting,” said Diaz.

In the next few months, Diaz will be preparing and will be competing in a series of qualifiers for another run at the Olympics.

“It will be very hard spiritually, mentally and physically but I will endure it.”

SUNSTAR FOTO / ARNI ACLAO

SUNSTAR FOTO/ARNI ACLAO) ED PICSON, Abap sec-gen UPBEAT. Hidilyn Diaz (left), who won the country’s first gold in the Asian Games, lauded the Cebu Weightlifting Association, headed by its president Felix Tiukinhoy (center) for putting up a grassroots program at the Sisters of Mary Boystown. We’ve seen so many strange things happen here, not just with the Philippine team, but so many teams. It’s really very sad that it has come to this. We have talked with the other countries, they are just upset as we are.