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The best and the brightest in sports in 2022, led by Tokyo Olympics gold medalist and world champion Hidilyn Diaz, will be honored by the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) during its annual awards night on March 6 at the grand ballroom of the Diamond Hotel.
Diaz will be bestowed anew with the Athlete of the Year award for the third time in the last five years.
The 31-year-old Diaz, who made history by winning the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal, finally stamped her class in the IWF World Weightlifting Championships behind a dominant sweep of the women’s 55-kilogram class during the 88th edition held at the Gran Carpa Americs Corferias Convention Center in the Colombian capital of Bogota.
The pride of Zamboanga City ruled the snatch with a lift of 93kg and 114kg in the clean-and-jerk for a total of 207kg and a breakthrough in the world meet following five failed bids in previous campaigns.
The special feat completed Diaz’s bucket list of winning a gold in international events — from the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, World Championship, all the way to the Olympics — an exploit no other Filipino athlete in history had ever achieved.
“Hidilyn Diaz was the unanimous choice as Athlete of the Year for 2022 by the Philippine Sportswriters Association. Her latest triumph is a testament to her being a true world-class athlete who continues to be an inspiration to the Filipino people since her historic gold medal win in the Tokyo Olympics,” said PSA president Rey Lachica of Tempo.
With her fourth Athlete of the Year honor, Diaz also became the only third person since 2000 to win the award four times after world boxing greats Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire Jr.
Sharing the limelight with Diaz are world championship medalists Carlos Yulo and EJ Obiena and the Philippine women’s football team, who will receive major awards in the event.
Yulo clinched a silver and bronze in the men’s vault and parallel bars during the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Liverpool England, while Obiena vaulted to a new Asian-high mark of 5.94 meters on his way to bagging a historic bronze in the World Athletics Championships in Oregon.
The Filipinas, on the other hand, booked a first-ever ticket to the FIFA Women’s World Cup following their third-place finish in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup under coach Alen Stajcic.
Also receiving major awards are boxer Carlo Paalam, jui-jitsu bets Meggie Ochoa and Kimberly Anne Custodio, karateka Junna Tsukii, pool players Rubilen Amit, Carlo Biado, and Johann Chua, weightlifter Vanessa Sarno, the volleyball duo of Jovelyn Gonzaga and Sisi Rondina, Esports organization Blacklist International, jockey Jessie Guca, and champion horse Boss Emong.
Likewise slated to be honored by the country’s oldest media organization are tennis champion Alex Eala, who will receive the President’s Award; the late legendary sprint queen Lydia De Vega, who will be elevated to the PSA Hall of Fame in recognition of her remarkable achievements in local athletics; long jump queen Elma Muros-Posadas, who will get the Lifetime Achievement award; and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino. who will be awarded as Executive of the Year.
Eala achieved a milestone in 2022 when she captured the 142nd US Open juniors girls’ singles championship in New York City, in the process becoming the first-ever Filipina netter to bag a junior singles grand slam crown.
The country’s gold medal winners in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam will also be receiving citations from the PSA. The Philippines captured a total of 52 golds in Hanoi to finish a strong fourth in the11-nation biennial meet that was rescheduled twice due to the pandemic. ROBERT ANDAYA