Philippines’ Hidilyn Diaz celebrates as she wins gold in the women’s 55kg weightlifting event during the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Hanoi on May 20, 2022. (Photo by Tang Chhin Sothy and TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP)
Weightlifting queen Hidilyn Diaz continued her dominance, ruling the women’s 55 kilogram event in Vietnam and winning the gold medal anew in the Southeast Asian Games on Friday.
Diaz, the Philippines’ first Olympic gold medalist made a total lift of 206kgs–92kgs in snatch and 114kgs in clean and jerk–to get her second straight SEA Games gold after winning the same event in 2019 in Manila
She bested Thailand’s Sanikun Tanasan, who settled for a silver with a SEA Games-record snatch of 93kgs but only managed 110kgs in clean and jerk for a total of 203kgs. Indonesia’s Natasya Beteyob wound up third with a lift of 188kgs.
Tanasan is also an Olympic champion who won the gold in the 2016 Rio Games in a lighter weight category.
This the first gold medal for the Philippine weightlifting team in Hanoi, with more expected before the biennial meet closes on Monday.
