Diaz lifts PH to new heights

ROBREDO “We congratulate Hidilyn Diaz on winning an Olympic silver medal for weightlifting after a 20-year drought for the country”.

Hidilyn Diaz was placed during the women’s 53kg weightlifting competition Sunday.

This year’s Olympics is the third time for Diaz, who recorded 88-kg and 112-kg, for a total of 22-kg, right next to the Taiwanese Hsu Shu-Ching, who recorded 212-kg, and Korea’s Korean Yoon Jin Hee, who she beat with a very slim margin, with 199-kg.

Gold medal winner Hsu Shu-Ching, of Taiwan, center, stands with silver medal winner Hidilyn Diaz, of the Philipines, left, and bronze medal winner Yoon Jin-hee, of South Korea, right.

“I was watching her before”. You could see it in the way she talks.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco Jr. said he hoped Diaz’s triumph would be the start of a new chapter in Philippine sports. The highlight of London was her carrying the Philippine flag at the opening ceremony.

Diaz became the fifth athlete to win an Olympic medal since 1964 and the third to take a silver.

Diaz is expected to receive a cash prize from the Philippine government amounting to at least P5 million, under the incentive program for Olympic medalists.

Ramirez said Filipinos can excel against the best in the world. “The lady athlete from Mindanao just made her country proud”.

The last Filipino to win an Olympic medal, according to Mashable, was Mansueto Velasco.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Ernesto Abella said Monday Duterte joins Filipinos in celebrating Diaz’ victory. On the first salvo of action in Rio, Team Pilipinas already lost one of its strongest bet to medal with Charly Suarez’s early exit, while netter Ian Lariba and swimmer Jessie Khing Lacuna also bombed out of contention in their respective sports discipline.

Like other Filipino sports heroes, such as boxing hero Manny Pacquiao, Ms. Diaz can also likely count on lucrative commercial offers once she returns home, he added.