HIDILYN KEEPS WEIGHTLIFT CROWN
Esports also delivers second win, PH’s 41st gold
HANOI, VIETNAM – Reigning Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz mustered the strength to raise the bar in her first attempt in the clean and jerk to prevail in an entertaining duel with Thai Tanasan Sanikun Friday and keep her weightlifting crown in the 31st Southeast Asian Games here.
After botching an attempt to set a new games record of 94kg in the snatch, Diaz returned to lift 114kg in the clean and jerk and finish with a 206kg total to beat Tanasan by three kilos and rule the 55kg class for the second straight time, a victory that she said would be her stepping stone for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“My journey to Paris starts here, so this SEA Games gold is very important for me,” said Diaz, who also triumphed in the 2019 Games.
“Napaka-meaningful nito (SEA Games). After winning the gold medal (in Tokyo), bumalik pa din ako, nakapag-deliver ng gold medal for the Philippines. Masaya ako na nandito ako ulit ako sa SEA Games, na i-represent ang Pilipinas,” she added after delivering the country’s 42nd gold.
Esports delivered its second win Friday, the country’s 41st gold while judoka Shugen Nagano won the 43rd in the 66kg class but winless stints in other finals fronts left the Philippines, backed by the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission, sliding to fifth overall from fourth, with Singapore moving up to third and Indonesia improving to fourth.
The Philippines-Sibol team of Johnmar “Phi Villaluna” Villaluna, Danerie “Phi del Rosario” del Rosario, Salic “Hadji” Imam and Dexter “Phi Alaba” Alaba scored a 3-1 win over Indonesia in the finals of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang at the Vietnam Convention Center. The win came after the women’s Wild Rift squad triumphed late Wednesday.
Host Vietnam continued to run roughshod over the opposition going into the last three days of the game, with Thailand assured of runner-up honors.
Diaz, at 31 the oldest among the six participants, broke the SEA Games record of 91kg by going one kilo better in her second snatch but Tanasan, the 2016 Rio Olympics champion in the lighter 48kg class, gave the Pinoy contingent a scare by lifting 93kg, snatching the record from the Filipina athlete of the year in 2021.
Diaz, the only reigning Olympic champion competing in the Games, tried to regain the record by going for 94kg in her last snatch but failed, smiling wryly as she left the stage. She later claimed she was far from worried.
“We studied our opponent, we know she’s strong in the snatch, but not so much in the clean and jerk. But of course, we cannot downplay the competition. I always do my best,” said Diaz, adding she struggled to train for the SEA Games after her busy schedule in the wake of her Tokyo Olympics golden feat.
“I was able to drop my weight from 61 to 55, that is why I’m so grateful with Team HD to reach this performance again,” added Diaz, who intends to compete in the World Championships and the Asian Games, just before the Paris games.
Tanasan, three years younger than Diaz, failed to lift 110kg in her second attempt in the clean and jerk after easily opening with 104kg. She tried to match Diaz’s 114kg in her third lift but failed, enabling the predominantly Pinoy crowd in the 1,000-capacity Sports Training and Competition Center, which included POC President and Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, to breathe a sigh of relief, knowing the gold was safely in the bag for the country.
“The clean and jerk is where she really stands out,” said sports psychologist Dr. Karen Trinidad, a member of Diaz’s world-class support staff known as Team HD.
Tanasan settled for the new SEA Games record and the silver with a total lift of 203kg, with Indonesian Natasha Beteyob finishing a far third with a total lift of 188kg built around 84 kg in the snatch and 104kg in the clean and jerk.
After lifting 114kg, Diaz tried 118kg on her second try but failed. She added three more kilos in her final lift, trying to break the SEA Games mark of 120kg but failed anew, falling on the mat, but maintained her smile and waved to the crowd.
She received her gold medal from Tolentino and sang the national anthem as the Philippine flag was raised for the 42nd time here. /