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[av_heading heading=’Hidilyn Diaz guns for gold in Asian games ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Sunday. September 17, 2017
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MANILA – It will be gold medal or bust for Filipina weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz when she competes in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) from Sept. 17 to 27 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Diaz, a native of Zamboanga City, admitted feeling pressured heading into the competition a year after bagging a silver medal in the women’s weightlifting event in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“The competition is tough here so I really prepared for this,” she said. “I made it in the Olympics. The question is can I do it again in the Asian Indoor Games?”
“I have to set my mind that the only acceptable thing for me to bring home is the gold medal,” Diaz added. “I must be determined because I can’t be contented with what I am right now.”
Among Diaz’s opponents in the AIMAG are Rio Olympics gold medalist Hsu Shu-ching of Chinese-Taipei and China’s Li Yajun, the frontrunner in Rio event before she was ousted for failing in her third and final attempt.
“In this event, I can assess if I can still give it another shot at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan,” said the three-time weightlifting Olympian.
Aside from Diaz, also set to represent the Philippines in the AIMAG are Southeast Asian Games gold medalists Eric Cray in athletics, Rubilen Amit and Carlo Biado in billiards, and Samuel Morrison in taekwondo.
A total of 116 athletes are part of the Philippine delegation in the quadrennial competition that features the best athletes from 61 countries in Asia and Oceania. The Philippine team will compete in 27 of the 31 disciplines./PN
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