Hidilyn Diaz carried the Philippines on her shoulders.
The 2016 Olympic Games silver medalist was crowned Asia’s best lifter in the women’s -53kg category of the 2018 Asian Games Weightlifting Championships, Tuesday evening at the Jakarta International Expo Hall A in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Back in 2014, it took 12 days before the country savored a gold medal. This time around, it only took three days for Lupang Hinirang to be heard around a competition venue in Indonesia.
This is the country’s first gold medal in the continental meet, raising the country’s tally to a gold and four bronzes.
The 27-year-old native of Zamboanga City lifted a total of 207 kg – a full kilo better than Turkmenistan’s Kristina Shermetova.
Diaz lifted 92kg in the snatch event before lifting 115kg in the clean and jerk.
Shermetova could not lift 116kg.
In the weightlifting competition of the Asiad, the Philippines now has a gold, five-silvers, and three-bronzes. The last medal came in 1970 from Salvador del Rosario in the flyweight category.
