MANILA – Hidilyn Diaz bagged the Philippines’ first gold medal in the 18th Asian Games after ruling the women’s 53kg weightlifting event Tuesday night at the Jakarta International Expo in Indonesia.
The 27-year-old native of Zamboanga City tallied a total of 207 points – 92 in snatch and 115 in clean and jerk.
Finishing behind Diaz – a silver medalist in the 2017 Rio de Janeiro Olympics – was Kristina Shermetova of Turkmenistan (206 points, 93 and 113) and Surodchana Khambao of Thailand (201 points, 86 and 115).
Taekwondo jin Pauline Lopez handed the Philippines its fourth bronze medal after a 4-11 loss to Chinese Luo Zongshi in the -57kg semifinals at the Jakarta Convention Center.
Lopez was behind 2-4 heading into the final round when Luo pulled to a 2-7 advantage. The Philippine rep closed in 4-7 and had a chance to tie with a head kick but two penalties and a body kick gave the Chinese an 11-4 edge.
Earlier the Ateneo Lady Eagles standout demolished Macau’s Xiao Feng 8-0 in the round of 16 before delivering a 20-0 shutout against Nepal’s Gyani Chunara and advanced to the semifinals.
Kirstie Alora, meanwhile, bowed out in the first round of +67kg after a 7-8 loss to Cansel Deniz of Kazakhstan, while Darlene Arpon got outclassed in the quarterfinals of the women’s -67kg by Jandi Kim of Korea 29-0.
Nestor Colonia finished on seventh place in men’s 56kg weightlifting finale while Jasmine Alkhaldi finished seventh among eight competitors in women’s 100m freestyle finals.
In other results, Caloy Yulo boosted his chances of winning the gold medal after topping the floor exercise qualifying in the men’s artistic gymnastics on Monday night. The gold medal match will be held on Thursday.
The Philippine Blu Girls softball team stretched its winning streak to three after taking down South Korea 5-3 and China 1-0. The Philippines still has three games in its schedule – against Japan, Indonesia and Chinese-Taipei./PN
