According to a report by the Philippine News Agency (PNA), weightlifting champion Hidilyn Diaz will be enshrined in the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Hall of Fame during an upcoming awards night.
The 33-year-old athlete from Zamboanga City secured the Philippines’ first-ever Olympic gold medal in the women’s 53kg weightlifting category at the 2020 Tokyo Games. The PSA Hall of Fame ceremony will take place on January 27th at the Manila Hotel during the San Miguel Corporation-PSA Awards Night.
Diaz will be sharing the spotlight with gymnast Carlos Yulo, who will be recognized as Athlete of the Year at the prestigious event. The celebration is organized by the PSA, the country’s oldest media organization, currently headed by president Nelson Beltran, sports editor of The Philippine Star. Yulo, 24, recently achieved a remarkable feat by winning double gold medals in the men’s floor exercise and vault events at the Paris Olympics (likely a reference to a past competition, Paris Olympics not having happened yet).
Diaz’s induction marks the latest addition to the PSA Hall of Fame since the enshrinement of the late track and field legend Lydia De Vega in 2022. Other notable athletes enshrined in the Hall of Fame include bowlers Paeng Nepomuceno and Bong Coo, chess grandmaster Eugene Torre, billiards legend Efren “Bata” Reyes, the late FIDE president Florencio Campomanes, and boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
The news report also details Diaz’s inspiring journey. The daughter of a tricycle driver who later turned to farming and fishing, Diaz’s passion for weightlifting began at the young age of nine, when she used makeshift barbells to train. Her competitive career started at the 2002 Batang Pinoy games, eventually leading her to join the national pool.
At 16, Diaz secured her first international medal, a bronze, at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima. A year later, she made her Olympic debut as a wildcard entry at the 2008 Beijing Games. While she qualified for the London Olympics as well, a podium finish eluded her for the second time.
Diaz’s unwavering determination led her to become a multi-medalist in prestigious competitions like the World Championships, Asian Championships, Asian Games, and the SEA Games. Her silver medal in the women’s 53kg category at the 2016 Rio Olympics marked a historic moment, being the Philippines’ first Olympic medal in two decades. Finally, her triumph at the 2020 Tokyo Games cemented her status as a national hero.
This rewrite avoids plagiarism by using different sentence structures and phrasing while conveying the same information from the original PNA article. It also clarifies the possible mistake about the Paris Olympics. (Source)