By Waylon Galvez

The team of Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz has set up a training camp in Malaysia after trips in China and Taiwan were called off due to the travel ban caused by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Acute Respiratory Disease that has spread in various parts of the world.

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 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, File)

The training camp is part of Diaz’s preparation for the Asian Championship on April 16 to 25 in Kazakhstan, an event that is crucial in her bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

The 28-year-old Diaz said her ‘Team HD’ is finalizing all the details with the Philippine Sports Commission for the said trip with a target departure for on February 15.

“At the end of the day we just need to have an isolation training,” said Diaz Saturday. “This has been our slogan, that with good training, good rest and food, we expect a good performance in every competition.”

Diaz was supposed to train in China, but the health issue and the travel ban forced Team HD to look for an alternative. Taiwan was considered but apparently, it has its own ban on Chinese nationals due to the 2019 nCov.

Diaz’s head coach is Kaiwen Gao from China.

“Syempre medyo affected kami sa coronavirus. Coach ko Chinese, total ban sa Taiwan, so hindi kami maka-training dun. Parang useless din kung pupunta kami dun without him. So we decided to go to Malaysia,” said Diaz.

Diaz trained in both China and Taiwan prior to the 30th Southeast Asian Games here, which resulted in her first gold medal in the regional meet in the 55kg division in the women’s division.

A month later, Diaz bagged the gold medal in the same category in the 2020 ROMA World Cup in Italy.

So far, the 28-year-old Diaz is at No. 5 spot with 3,632.0672 points in the IWF ranking.

“Kailangan in every competition we need to prepare. May mga kailangan lang ng adjustment sa training. Kailangan mas high intensity ang training ngayon, malapit na yung Asian Championship,” said Diaz.

“After ng Malaysia baka tuloy-tuloy na kami sa Kazakhstan, we need to be there five days before the competition, para mas maka-prepare kami sa weather, sa time zone and food.”

Source: Manila Bulletin