Hidilyn Diaz's quest for Tokyo Olympic berth in peril due to virus scare

MANILA, Philippines – The Tokyo Olympics bid of Hidilyn Diaz suffered a massive blow Saturday after organizers of the Ibero American Open slated next week in Cali, Colombia decided it would not accommodate participants from Europe and Asia due to the COVID-19 scare.

The six-day event, which was originally intended as the Olympic continental qualifiers for South Americans, would have been Diaz’s last of the six required International Weightlifting Federation-sanctioned events for her to officially book a slot to Tokyo.

Diaz had actually already secured a confirmation from the IWF for her to be allowed to join after the Asian Championship set April 16-25 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and the African Championship slated April 13-20 in Vacoas, Mauritius were both called off.

But organizers decided in the last minute to make it an all-Latin American affair that left the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist stranded in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where she has trained for weeks now.

For an Olympic aspirant like Diaz to make it to Tokyo, one must participate in at least six IWF-approved events and finish in the top 10.

Diaz has competed in five and ranked fourth in her 55kg weight class but is technically ranked No. 2 since the top three are Chinese and only one per country are allowed in the quadrennial summer games.

Diaz is one of the country’s best hopes to make it to Tokyo and possibly win the country its first Olympic gold medal and is seeking to join world champion gymnast Caloy Yulo, pole-vaulter EJ Obiena and boxers Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno there.

Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella, however, said he had already written the IWF to be lenient on Diaz and other aspirants since it was not their fault that the events they were supposed to join were shelved.

“I already requested the IWF as early as two weeks ago to review the six-event qualifying policy and reduce it to just five due to the unforeseen circumstances affecting not only weightlifting, but all sports as a whole,” said Puentevella.

The IWF Board, in fact, will reportedly meet Monday in Lausanne, Switzerland to tackle the issue.

“I’m optimistic the IWF Board will reconsider our plea and resolve this problem at hand and be fair to all associations worldwide,” said Puentevella.

In the meantime, Diaz will continue to train in Kuala Lumpur while the rest of the Filipino wrestlers aspiring to make it to Tokyo like Southeast Asian Games gold medal winner Kristel Macrohon, Rio OIympian Nestor Colonia, Eileen Ando, John Ceniza and Mary Flor Diaz are preparing in their respective provinces.

“We are thankful to the PSC under Chairman Ramirez for all the support. So far, the Asian Championships this April in Uzbekistan have already been cancelled together with Romania last week and next month in Mauritius. Colombia is the latest,” said Puentevella.