Filipino weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz handed the Philippines its first medal in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games early morning on Monday, Manila time. Diaz, who is competing in her third straight Olympics, took the silver medal in the women's 53-kg division won by Chinese Taipei's Hsu Shu-Ching. Her silver win is the Philippines' first medal since 1996 when boxer Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco bagged the silver in the Atlanta Olympic Games.
The winning of the silver medal by Zamboangueña weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz in the Rio Olympics is not only a great gift for the Philippines but to her mother as well. Diaz, 25, bagged the silver medal on Sunday (Brazil time) in the women’s 58-kilogram category hours after her mother, Emelita, celebrated her 53rd birthday. In Brazil, it is Sunday but already Monday dawn in the Philippines and Emelita’s birthday was on Sunday, August 7 (Philippine time). “Our family is very proud of her,” Emelita told the Philippines News Agency in an interview on Monday. Congratulations!