There can be only one: Hidilyn’s first Olympic hurdle is Cebu-based teammate

Elreen Ann Ando will drop down to 59kg after finishing seventh in the 64kg event in Tokyo. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

At the last world championship, Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo got the chance to scout potential competitors from other countries in her quest for a second Olympic gold medal. But before they can even think about the Paris 2024 Summer Games, they must stop their opponents at home.

Choosing the same weight class as Elreen Ann Ando, ​​​​Diaz-Naranjo will have to surpass her Tokyo Olympian friend in the Olympic qualification to seize the only place allocated to each country in the women’s 59kg category.

The two elite lifters will collide for the first time at the 2023 Asian Championships on May 3 to 13 in Jinju, South Korea, an Olympic qualifying event where Tokyo gold medalist and Olympic record holder Kuo Hsing-chun is the favourite.

Diaz-Naranjo, who changed the country’s sports history by winning the first Olympic gold medal for Team Philippines in Tokyo, and the 24-year-old Ando will participate in at least five qualifying tournaments before the Paris Olympics.

“Hidilyn will skip the SEA (Southeast Asia) Games because she wants to focus on 59kg. Since Ando has been competing in the same weight, both will appear in the Asian championship,” said Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella.

The 32nd SEA Games were held from May 5 to 17 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Diaz-Naranjo, the current world champion and SEA Games gold medalist in the women’s 55kg, was forced to step up to the scales after the weight class was usually dropped when Ando dropped from 64kg, which was also dropped from the Paris program.

“It’s a different ball game for Hidilyn as she is now forced to leave the 55kg category she won in Tokyo, as the International Weightlifting Federation changes weights every four years,” said Puentevella.

“This also means that Hidilyn will now fight for this Olympic slot against our own Olympian, Cebu Elreen Ando, ​​who also represented us in the last Tokyo Olympics,” added the newly elected vice president of the Asian Weightlifting Federation.

“Hidilyn focused again. And when he is determined, he becomes the biggest threat in the city. The first duel in South Korea will be a battle of titans that everyone should see, because only one will come to Paris next year,” said Puentevella.

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