NATIONAL coach Julius Naranjo has arranged a two-week “acclimatization” camp for Tokyo Olympics gold medalist and wife Hidylin Diaz at Waseda University, famed for its sports science facilities, in Tokyo, Japan before she competes in the Asian weightlifting championships in Jinju, South Korea in May.
“We plan to train at Waseda University in Tokyo before the Asian weightlifting championships because Japan and South Korea have similar weather,” Naranjo said.
Based on its website, among Waseda University’s facilities are an exercise physiology lab where studies on “how human physiological functions respond to exercise and sports, and how they adapt to regular physical and sports activities, mainly focusing on the respiratory circulatory system and skeletal muscles.”
The institution also has a biochemistry lab that “examines the biochemical responses of living organisms to exercise training performed in various modalities, animal experiments are conducted, and various biochemical indices are analyzed in organs such as skeletal muscle and liver, as well as blood samples.”
Diaz, who was feted by the Philippine Sportswriters Association for the fourth time as its Athlete of the Year last Monday at the Diamond Hotel grand ballroom, and her husband-coach left last Wednesday for the United States for the first phase of their build-up for the Asian competition, an Olympic qualifying event.
Diaz will train for two weeks at the Power & Grace Performance Camp in Lawrenceville, Georgia, where she also trained before successfully competing in the world championship, sweeping three golds in the women’s 55kg class.
Accompanying them is promising national lifter Rosegie Ramos, also from Zamboanga City like Diaz, whom Naranjo has taken under his wings to expose her to elite level training.
Among those who have trained at the American facility is Canadian Maude Charron, who bagged the gold medal in the women’s 64kg class in the last Tokyo Olympic Games and will be going down five kilos to the 59 kg category for the Paris Games.
This is the same weight division where Diaz will compete after the International Olympic Committee revised weight classes from the last Tokyo Olympics two years ago.
Naranjo said they will return for a short spell in the country after their two-week training camp in Georgia then proceed to Tokyo with Ramos and another protege, Roel Garcia, another Zamboanga City native, tagging along.
“Our plan is to proceed directly to South Korea after our training in Tokyo,” said Naranjo of the Asian weightlifting championships scheduled May 3 to 13 that serves as another qualifying event the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Diaz is on a collision course in the Asian meet with fellow Tokyo Olympian and national teammate Elreen Ann Ando, who will also compete in the 59kg category in Korea, with the showdown happening on May 7 at the Jinju Arena Weightlifting Hall.
