HIDILYN Diaz completed a three bronze sweep in the 2015 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Weightlifting Championship in Houston, Texas to boost her chances of gaining an Olympic berth.
Diaz won the bronze in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total category of the women’s 53kg division to finish behind a China and Chinese Taipei lifter.
She also become the first-ever Filipina to win a medal in the history of the competition and boosted her bid to claim a seat in the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics.
Diaz, who competed in the 2012 London Olympics as a wild card entry, finished third in the snatch with a 96 kg behind the lifts of gold medal winner Chen Xiaoting of China (101 kg) and Hsu Shu-Ching of Chinese Taipei (96 kg).
The Filipina also placed third in the clean and jerk with a 117 kg tally behind Hsu (125 kg) and Chen (120 kg), respectively.
The 24-year-old Zamboanga native totaled 213 kg to win her third bronze, with Hsu winning the gold over Chen via tiebreak after both lifters accumulated 221 kg.
Diaz, who won three gold medals in this year’s Asian Championship, is on pace for an Olympic berth with the tournament being one of the qualifying tournaments for next year’s Summer Games.
An athlete can qualify in the Olympics via team qualification where a country can gain three to six berths based on team rankings in the 2014 and 2015 World Championship, and continental qualification events, or via individual qualification by being one of eight in the top 15 in each weight category from countries which have not yet gained Olympic berths.
It was a successful campaign for the Filipino weightlifters, who also got a bronze from Nestor Colonia in the clean-and-jerk 56kg division.
Source: Reuben Terrado of Spin.ph
