Hidilyn pitches training camp in US, Japan

MANILA, Philippines — Reigning world champion weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo will train in the United States and Japan this year as she hunts for a second Olympic gold medal when the Paris Games are held next year.

Diaz-Naranjo is also out to cement her status as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, athletes the country has produced.

“Gusto kong tsina-challenge ako. This year, mas lalo akong naging disiplinado at determinado na mag-back-to-back gold medal sa Olympics para sa Pilipinas,” said Diaz-Naranjo during yesterday’s courtesy call to Philippine Sports Commission chair Richard Bachmann.

“I will do my best for the country,” she added.

Diaz-Naranjo, who snared a golden treble in the World Championships in Bogota, Colombia a month ago, has already embraced the fact that she had to move up to 59 kilograms after her original division, the 55kg, was scrapped from the Paris calendar.

It was in the lighter class that the Zamboanga City-born icon struck the country’s historic gold in the quadrennial event in Tokyo two years ago.

She will have a chance to test the waters either in the Phnom Penh Southeast Asian Games set May 5 to 17 or the Hangzhou Asian Games slated Sept. 23 to Oct. 8 or both.