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HIDILYN DIAZ-NARANJO is back in Bahrain to vie in her fourth Paris 2024 Olympics qualifier in Doha.
The Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Diaz-Naranjo will be vying in the Doha International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Grand Prix II starting December 4.
It will be the fourth of five Olympic qualifiers which Diaz-Naranjo and her trainer-coach husband Julius Naranjo picked for her campaign for a fifth-straight Olympics stint.
“The training camp’s set for two weeks,” said Diaz-Naranjo, who was tight-lipped on her medal projection. “We don’t want any distractions during training so that’s the best way to train abroad.”
The 33-year-old Diaz-Naranjo also trained in Manama ahead of the world championships in Riyadh and the Asian Games in Hangzhou last September.
She again brought her protégé and neighbor in Barangay Mampang in Zamboanga City, Rosegie Ramos, in Bahrain. She and her team flew to Bahrain on Sunday night.
“Roasegie [Ramos] and I need to focus, our minds should not be divided especially that this will be our fourth Olympic qualifier,” said Diaz-Naranjo, who led a ground-breaking ceremony for her HD Weightlifting Academy in Jala-jala a week ago.
Diaz-Naranjo is running eighth in the world rankings for the women’s 59-kg division, where 12 of the world’s best in the category will compete in Paris.
She won a gold medal in her first Olympic qualifier at the Bogota world championships last December as a 55-kg athlete and was tested at the heavier weight division in her second qualifying event in Jinju, South Korea, last May.
The Naranjos picked the IWF World Cup from April 2 to 11 in Phuket as their last qualifier.
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