Manila, Philippines, April 14, 2020: Asian Games weightlifting champion Hidilyn Diaz of the Philippines is doing her bit to support the needy in these challenging times of COVID-19 – even though she is training in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The 18th Asian Games champion in Jakarta and 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist conducted an online weightlifting clinic and asked for donations to help feed people in her home town of Mampang, Zamboanga City.
The online seminar raised over 40,000 Peso (800 USD) and she used this money to buy food, repackage the items and deliver relief aid, assisted by her family back in the Philippines.
There has been two such deliveries to date, relieving the pressure on local people in lockdown due to COVID-19. The first delivery was to 33 families and the second was to 39 families,
“I want to thank all who donated and signed up for the weightlifting seminar. I also want to thank my family in Mampang for making it a reality. Yes, I’m in Malaysia right now but we can help in our own little way,” she said on Facebook.
“Thank you to all who donated and participated in the weightlifting seminar for a cause for the affected families.”
Diaz, who has not yet qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, is in lockdown in Kuala Lumpur where she has been training since February.
The seminar showed her own lifting techniques and shared her experiences and knowledge with the sport in which she won gold medals in the last Roma World Cup in Italy, the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 2019 and the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
