By Waylon Galvez

Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz delivered the goods as she captured the gold medal in the 55kg women’s category in the 2020 Roma World Cup Tuesday in Italy.

Hidilyn Diaz waves to the crowd after bagging the gold medal in the women's weightlifting 55kg category, her first for the Southeast Asian Games, in the 30th version of the regional biennial meet at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, December 2, 2019. (MB Photo / Rio Leonelle Deluvio / Captured using Canon 5D Mark IV with 300mm f4 lens)

Hidilyn Diaz (MB Photo / Rio Leonelle Deluvio / Captured using Canon 5D Mark IV with 300mm f4 lens, File)

Diaz, 28, dominated the competition as she had a total lift of 212kgs after she finished the snatch event at 93kgs and 119kgs in the clean and jerk event of the competition, a qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Olympics this year.

On both her final attempts in the two categories, Diaz failed to complete it – or ‘no lift’ – of 95kgs in snatch and 122kgs in clean and jerk. She received a total of three gold medals for ruling the snatch, clean and jerk, and the 55kg division of the tournament.

Nevertheless, her total points were enough to win Diaz her first gold medal in the world stage as Kamila Konotop of Ukraine placed second with a total lift of 196kgs to settle with the silver medal while Nouha Landoulsi of Tunisia placed third with 194kgs for the bronze medal.

Diaz twice bagged the bronze medal in the world championships, in 2017 in Anaheim, USA, and in 2019 in Pattaya, Thailand. She won the gold medal in the Asian Games in Indonesia last year.

Prior to the tournament, Diaz said that her target is to finish in the top three to improve her spot in the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) world ranking, which at the moment is at No. 5.

After she captured her first gold medal in the 30th Southeast Asian Games here the previous month, Diaz improved her raking points to 3.632.0672, but that is expected to improve with her latest victory.

Currently leading in the 55kg category are Chinese weightlifters Jiang Huihua (4,667.8878), Liao Qiuyun (4,288.9622), Zhang Wanqiong (4,212.6639) and Li Yajun (4,099.0223), while at No. 6 is Muattar Nabieva of Uzbekistan (3,519.9108), Yenny Sinisterra of Colombia at No. 7 (3,432. 7232) and Kazakhstan’s Zulfiya Chinshanlo at No. 8 (3,413.5078).

Interestingly, the Chinese lifters did not participate in the tournament.

Source: Manila Bulletin