At A Glance
- A lean Philippine weightlifting team bannered by Tokyo Olympics champion Hidilyn Diaz intensifies its campaign to qualify for the 2024 Paris Games when they compete in the IWF World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sept. 4 to 17.
A lean Philippine weightlifting team bannered by Tokyo Olympics champion Hidilyn Diaz intensifies its campaign to qualify for the 2024 Paris Games when they compete in the IWF World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sept. 4 to 17.

The event serves as one of the required tournaments that weightlifters must compete in order to be eligible for Paris. It also stakes world-ranking points.
Diaz, who won the country’s first Olympic gold medal in the 55-kilogram division, will see action in the 59kg class after her weight class was scrapped off the calendar.
However, she would be facing fellow Tokyo Olympian Elreen Ando, who won the Southeast Asian Games gold in the said weight class last May.
Diaz and Ando will clash on Sept. 8.
Also in the lineup is world junior champion Vanessa Sarno, considered the heiress to Diaz’s throne, who will see action in the women’s 71kg along with Kristel Macrohon on Sept. 13.
Upcoming lifters Rosegie Ramos and Lovely Inan will vie in the women’s 49kg on Sept. 5, while John Febuar Ceniza will battle in the men’s 61kg on Sept. 6.
Ramos, 19, is a two-time Asian junior champion; 18-year-old Inan debuted in the 32nd SEAG last May with a silver medal; and Ceniza is a 2020 bronze medalist in the IWF World Cup and a two-time SEAG silver winner.
Aside from joining the world championships, lifters must also participate in at least five International Weightlifting Federation-sanctioned events.
Diaz, Sarno, Ceniza and Ando have already competed in two.