Hidilyn Diaz at courtside during the UST-La Salle match in the UAAP Season 79 first round. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz minced no words in declaring her desire to wear the national colors again in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I want to be in Tokyo,” the Olympic silver medalist announced during yesterday’s special tribute to Rio de Janeiro Olympians organized by Sports5 at Resorts World Manila.
The 25-year-old Diaz broke the country’s Olympic dry spell after a surprise second-place performance in the 53kg women’s weightlifting division.
That silver was the first for the Philippines since boxer Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco captured a silver in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“All I had asked for was a bronze, but God gave me a silver,” said Diaz, the first Filipino female athlete to win an Olympic medal.
Five of the 13 Olympians attended the affair with taekwondo jin Elaine Alora, swimmer Jessie Khing Lacuna, boxers Rogen Ladon and Charly Suarez all hoping to make the Tokyo Games.