MANILA, Philippines – Despite the possibility of her Tokyo Olympic bid being stalled by the COVID-19 scare, Hidilyn Diaz vowed to continue to stay focused and on track with regards to her preparation and training.
The 2016 Rio silver medalist took to social media to say she is far from being distracted nor disheartened with the recent development that prevented her from joining a competition in Cali, Colombia due to the pandemic outbreak, thus endangering her bid to advance to Tokyo.
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“There are things we can’t control and we can’t do anything, the effects of COVID-19 is something unimaginable,” said Diaz on her Instagram account @hidilyndiaz. “Most of my Olympic qualification events are p0ostponed or cancelled, travel ban, city lockdown and country lockdown. Panic, fears and frustration is controlling us right now.
“As an athlete we don‘t stop when we fail once, even twice, the most important thing is we do our best and at the end of the day we won’t regret anything. I will remain focused and determined to improve every single day,” she added.
Diaz is actually a step — one competition — away from claiming a berth to the quadrennial summer games as she is already No. 4 — No. 2 technically since the first three are Chinese and only one per country can compete in Tokyo — of the 10 per weight category that will be chosen.
The Cali tilt was supposed to be her ticket but organizers decided in the last minute to bar Europeans and Asians from participating.
Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella, however, said he is confident the International Weightlifting Federation will heed the clamor to allow aspirants like Diaz to still qualify despite being one tournament short.
“I have fight that the IWF will have the heart to heed our call, I’m sure they will,” said Puentevella.