Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz is at the forefront of a compact Philippine weightlifting squad aiming to secure spots for the 2024 Paris Games. The team is set to compete in the IWF World Championships held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, scheduled from September 4 to 17.
This championship holds significance as it fulfills one of the mandatory competitions that weightlifters must participate in to become eligible for the Paris Olympics. It also offers an opportunity to accumulate world-ranking points.
Diaz, celebrated for clinching the nation’s inaugural Olympic gold in the 55-kilogram category, is poised to compete in the 59kg class due to the removal of her original weight category from the schedule.
She will be going head-to-head with Elreen Ando, another Tokyo Olympian who secured a gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games earlier in the same weight class. Their clash is set for September 8.
The lineup also features rising star Vanessa Sarno, the reigning world junior champion who is considered Diaz’s successor. Sarno, accompanied by Kristel Macrohon, will take on the women’s 71kg category on September 13.
Emerging athletes Rosegie Ramos and Lovely Inan are slated for the women’s 49kg division on September 5, while John Febuar Ceniza will vie in the men’s 61kg class on September 6.
Ramos, aged 19, boasts two Asian junior titles; Inan, aged 18, marked her SEAG debut with a silver medal in May; and Ceniza, a bronze medalist in the 2020 IWF World Cup and two-time SEAG silver awardee.
The quest for Olympic qualification entails participation in a minimum of five International Weightlifting Federation-sanctioned events, a criteria already met by Diaz, Sarno, Ceniza, and Ando, who have each competed in two such events.
