Diaz‘s silver medal prize came after a series of failed attempts by some members of the Philippine delegation including Ian Lariba, the lone qualifier (women’s singles) in table tennis and Jessie Lacuna in the Men’s 400 m freestyle. First to suffer a loss in the first day oi competition was Charly Suarez of boxing. He lost to Joe Cordina of Great Britain via a split decision.
The 25-year-old weightlifter from Zamboanga earned her ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympics after winning several events in the Asian Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from April 24 to 30 this year.
Before the latest Asian Championship competition, Diaz was active in major weightlifting competitions in Europe including the one he had in the London Olympics following her participation in the 2011 World Weightlifting Championships in Paris.
Of the 13 Philippine qualifiers in different sports, Charly Suarez and Roden Ladon were the country’s hope for gold medal but Suarez wasn’t lucky in his first attempt leaving Ladon as the only hope of another medal for the Philippines.
Ladon debuts August 8 against Patrick Lourenço of Brazil or Yurberjen Martinez of Colombia in the second round on August 8 after receiving a bye earlier. Ladon will need two wins to break into the medal round
The Philippines has not won any Olympic medal since 1996 but boxing has given the country at least five of the nine medals it has garnered since its participation in the Olympics. Read more.
With the win, Diaz is now the first female athlete to win an Olympic medal for the Philippines and the first one in weightlifting.
