Diaz fails 3 attempts; Rosario in 32nd

LONDON – Four years of preparation and sacrifices that included putting on hold a computer degree and separation from her family ended in frustration, tears and despair for 21-year-old Hidilyn Diaz who dropped out of the weightlifting event of the 30th Olympic

Diaz did a snatch of 92 kilos on her first try and attempted 118 kg in the clean and jerk, but her first three attempts failed as the Filipina lay flat on the floor before stunned spectators at the Excel-South Arena 3 of the Olympic Village.

“I committed a foul when my arm hit my leg in the first attempt. In the second the bar pressed the lower part of my throat and I choked. I felt dizzy and dropped the bell,” she said.

In her third time, she simply could no longer make a lift and dropped to the floor. She was showed out of the stage by sports officials.

“All the preparations I’ve done for four years and the sacrifices my coach and others who supported me to help me succeed are gone,” said Diaz in between tears after leaving the stage .

“This is the first time I had a zero in a competition. I knew I could lift 118 kilos. In fact, I had done 123 before. I was running second before that lift (118) but I don’t know what happened,” he added. “I apologize to the Filipino people for my performance.”

Prospects also turned bleak at The Royal Artillery Barracks where Paul Brian Rosario finished 32nd among 36 participants after 75 shots in the qualifying round of the skeet event.

Rosario had a perfect 25 in the third round, bettering his 22 and 19 in the first two rounds for a 66, eight points behind the near perfect mark of 74 by world and Olympic record holder Vincent Hancock of the US.

The 36-man field returns today to complete the last two rounds which will determine the top six to advance to the finals later in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Mark Anthony Barriga waved to friends, showing a smile of confidence as he concluded his workout and a two-year training to start the climb to what could be the greatest triumph of a lifetime – a gold in the Olympics.

Rosario and archer Rachel Ann Cabral resume their respective campaigns as the lean Team Philippines plunges into action in what it considers as a “heavy schedule.”

“I’m ready, sir. I’ve trained hard for two years and I must say I’m ready,” said the 20-year-old slugger on the eve of his first round competition in the light flyweight (46-49 kg) division in the 30th Olympic Games.

The Panabo, Davao del Norte pugilist climbs the ring at 1:33 p.m. (8:33 p.m. in Manila) at the Excel-South Arena 2 of the Olympic Park.

Barriga, the best to come out of the nationwide talent-search program of the Amateur Boxing Association, will go flat out to score his first conquest, opposite Italian Manuel Cappai, who is trained by his father, a former European champion.

Meanwhile, the Barriga-Cappai duel will be shown live on AKTV on IBC13 right after the China vs Russia men’s basketball game.

The upper half of the draw where Barriga belongs, is a bracket of death, which includes world champion Zhou Shimming of China, Veitia Soto Yosbany of Cuba, Birshan Zhakypov of Kasakstan and Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia, any one of which could win the gold in any given day.

Men’s bouts have now been changed to three rounds of three minutes each. Previously, bouts consisted of four two-minute rounds.

Also, the international boxing association (AIBA) introduced seeding for the top boxers in each category. Aside from Shimming and Purevdorj, the other seeded boxers are David Ayrapetyan of Russia and Shin Jonghun of Korea in the lower half of the draw.

All seeded players received a bye for today’s first round.

At the Royal Artillery Barracks, Rosario takes aim at one of six final slots among 36 contenders in the skeet event of shooting.

Skeet is a short-range shotgun event, in contrast to the trap where shooters hit targets from longer range. Shooters fire at clay targets, with each hit counting in the total points for every competitor. In the qualifying round, there will be 125 targets, divided into five rounds of 25.

The top six after the qualifying rounds today and tomorrow morning advance to the finals in the afternoon tomorrow.

Over at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, Cabral, who ranked 48th after the classification round, faces No. 17 Inna Stepanova of Russia in the Round of 64, start of the women’s individual archery event.

If she wins the match at 3:13 p.m., she advances to the round of 32 at approximately 4:05 p.m. Her opponent will be the winner in the duel between top-ranked Ki Bo Bae of Korea and No. 64 Rand Al-Mashhadani of Iraq.

Team Phl is backed by ICTSI, Bank of Philippine Islands, Mizuno, Samsonite, Philracom, Petron, Procter & Gamble, Smart Sports, TV5 and the Philippine Sports Commission.