The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) announced yesterday that it will continue to support weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz in her bid to capture the country’s first gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Diaz met PSC Chairman William Ramirez yesterday to discuss her reasons for taking to social media to express interest in looking for corporate sponsors.
On Monday, Diaz shared on her Instagram stories that she was thinking of looking for corporate sponsors because she needed more financial support for her training. She added that she was embarrassed to ask for money but she just wanted to win the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics next year.
READ: All’s Well That Ends Well
Accompanied by AFP Special Services Chief Col. Taharudin Ampatuan, Rio Olympics silver medalist @diaz_hidilyn met with PSC Chairman William Ramirez this afternoon and discussed issues that may have prompted her to post her plea for help on social pic.twitter.com/pZ1FAZJXHC— Philippine Sports Commission (@psc_gov) June 6, 2019
Ramirez yesterday promised that the PSC will continue to fund Diaz’s training because they also hope to see her win the gold medal, reported Rappler. “We have pledged our support before, and we will continue to do so because we are focused on that Olympic gold as much as Hidilyn is,” Ramirez said.
He added that in a board meeting yesterday, members of the PSC approved two requests from Diaz wherein she asked the organization to fund her training sessions in China, ABS-CBN News reported. For her part, Diaz promised to “never quit” in her quest to capture the Philippines’ first gold medal. She will have another meeting with PSC officials where she will discuss details of her training and other issues related to her preparation for the Olympics.
Prior to their meeting, the PSC defended themselves from online accusations that they have been remiss in their responsibilities to Diaz, which led her to post her call for sponsors on Instagram. The government sports association said that they have spent almost PHP4.5 million (US$87,007) on Diaz’s training and that they are also paying for her coach’s salary and food allowance. They also pointed out that she receives one of the highest allowances among all national athletes and that they have approved her sports association’s request to fund her upcoming competitions.
In the past, Diaz has called out Philippine sports officials whom she felt did not have athletes’ best interests at heart. In September 2018 she wrote to Ramirez to complain about Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella for leading the organization without a strategic or long-term plan to develop the country’s weightlifters. She later met Puentevella to iron out their issues, SunStar Bacolod reported.
The Philippines has never won a single gold medal in the Olympics since it first began competing in 1924 at the Paris Olympics. However, many believe that Diaz has what it takes to win the gold — she won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, after all.
Reader Interactions