Olympic silver medalist Diaz gets financial aid for Tokyo Olympic bid

Source: Xinhua| 2019-08-08 22:35:27|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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MANILA, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- 2016 Olympic weightlifting silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz has secured a two million-peso (roughly 38,324 U.S. dollars) sponsorship to support her bid for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics through a deal agreed with local company Philippine Sports Commission.

The memorandum agreement was signed at Malacanang, the Philippine Presidential palace on Thursday.

"I'm so grateful for the help, for the support they gave me," Diaz said.

"I'm going to play in the Olympics and there's a lot of competition that I need to complete and prepare toward the Olympics. I can't do it alone," she added.

According to Diaz, she planned to use the aid building a more professional training team for the 2020 bid that included a conditioning coach, a nutritionist and a psychologist.

Indeed, the Philippines has not won an Olympic gold medal since the country first attended the quadrennial multi-sport event in 1924. Diaz is the first Filipino woman to win an Olympic medal of any color.

The 28-year-old weightlifter also snatched the gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games.

"She'll be getting a package amounting to two million pesos initially," PSC chairman William Ramirez said, stressing that Diaz is getting 48,000 pesos (roughly 920 U.S. dollars) a month allowance plus housing and food, coach and foreign training allowance from the PSC.

This aid came months after Diaz posted on her Instagram account that she needed financial help eagerly.

"I'm really having a hard time. I need financial support," Diaz wrote in the story in June.

In April, Diaz took a step towards qualifying for the Tokyo Olympic Games by winning three silver medals in the 2019 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo, China.

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