China training eyed for lifters Diaz, Colonia

MANILA, Philippines - Youthful weightlifters Hidilyn Diaz and Nestor Colonia, the Philippines’ Olympic hopefuls, will be sent to China to undergo intensive training as part of their build-up for the last Olympiad-qualifying meet set in Korea in April.

“We’re already arranging a China training for Hidilyn and Nestor to prepare them for their Olympic bids. They should be leaving by first or second week of January and from China, they will go to the qualifying,” Philippine Weightlifting Association president Monico Puentevella told The STAR yesterday.

Phl is eyeing either Guangxi, a province in Southern China along its border with Vietnam that hosts training of some Class A Chinese lifters, or Fujian, a coastal area in Southeast China which offers the first-class Majiang Training Center for weightlifting, as hub for Diaz, 20, and Colonia, 19.

The two will be accompanied by two Filipino coaches and one or two more young lifters. The Llena sisters, Patricia and Lea, are being eyed for the other slots.

The China training, according to Puentevella, will continue even after the qualifying tilt if Diaz and/or Colonia makes it to the London Games in August.

Diaz, a wild card entry in the Beijing Olympics, has a legit chance of qualifying for the 2012 Olympiad after placing seventh in the women’s 58-kg division of the IWF world weightlifting championships last month in Paris, France.

The pride of Zamboanga should maintain this performance in the Korea trials to secure her spot in the final 10-man field for London, according to Puentevella.

For his part, Colonia ranked 13th in the men’s 56-kg competitions in the worlds and would try to barge into the top 10 in the next trials.

Meanwhile, Puentevella said the PWA is also arranging to hire a Chinese coach for Team Phl.

“We’re trying to get one weightlifting coach from China; they’re already doing this everywhere,” he said, adding that “Chinese officials have already agreed and hopefully they will send us a national team-level coach.”

Phl weightlifting, which produced one silver (Diaz) and two bronze medals (Richard Pep Agosto, above-105kg, and Christopher Bure, below-94kgs) in the last SEA Games, is the first to take advantage of the memorandum of agreement the Philippines and China signed this year.