Filipino lifters keep busy, vie in SEAG meet

MANILA, Philippines - Their sport scratched off the Singapore Southeast Asian Games program, Olympian Hidilyn Diaz and fellow lifters Nestor Colonia and Jeffrey Garcia will try to prove their worth in the SEA Weightlifting Championships slated June 26-29 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Diaz, a two-time Olympian and silver medalist in the 2013 SEAG, will vie for regional glory in the 58 kgs division while Asian Games campaigner Colonia and Garcia will compete in the 56kg and 62kg, respectively, in the tournament being organized in place of weightlifting events in Singapore.

The national lifters, according to coach Alfonso Aldanete, have been training rigorously for the SEA hostilities.

“Malaki ang chance especially mahigpit ang training na ginagawa nila ngayon, three times a day (They have a good chance for medals considering they’ve been training dutifully three times a day),” he said.

The 24-year-old Diaz is also eyeing a third straight appearance in the Rio Olympics next year. Diaz, a veteran of Beijing and London, will seek the objective at the Olympic-qualifying world championships in Houston in November.

“Kaya naman (It’s a doable task),” said Diaz.

Like the lifters, the Philippine Malditas will campaign in their own regional meet, the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Championship on May 1-10 in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, in place of the SEAG. Women’s football was also booted out of the Singapore joust’s calendar.

The Malditas will pit skills with host Vietnam, Myanmar and Malaysia in Group B of the region’s showcase football tournament for ladies.  Making up the other group are powerhouses Thailand and Australia, Indonesia and Laos.

“Our women’s team will have the Asean championship and we’ll be preparing for that,” said Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Nonong Araneta.

In the last AFF Women’s tilt two years ago in Myanmar, the Pinay booters wound up third in five-team Group B with six points on two wins and two losses and missed the semis. Joana Houplin emerged as the tournament’s top scorer there with eight goals.