By MARK REY MONTEJO LAOAG CITY – Four-time Olympian Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo was mesmerized by the growth of weightlifting after making huge waves in the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021. In the 2025 Palarong Pambansa here, the Zamboanga native’s dream of discovering talents who could follow her footsteps is taking one big leap. “May proseso, pero ang sabi is kailangan maging popular ang sport, kailangan maraming participants,” said Diaz, who is currently serving as the weightlifting tournament director of Palaro, with the sport making its return as a demonstration in the annual grassroots competition. “At ‘yung mga regionals ay interested to make it a regular sports. Hoping na sana next year,” she added. Aside from her mission of popularizing the sport in different parts of the nation, weightlifting should attract a consistent number of participants in the coming years of the meet. The Palaro board will assess the sport’s performance, with several standards – from safety, competition quality, and athlete turnout – to be met. If everything falls into place, weightlifting would be elevated as a regular sport since it was introduced in scrapped in the 1980s. But for now, Diaz was elated with the entry of the sport, noting that it was a dream come true for her and the whole weightlifting community. “Dream come true kasi nga for how many years pinapangarap ko ‘to,” said Diaz-Naranjo, who is also continuing her preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. “And hindi lang ako [pero] lahat ng nasa weightlifting community, na ma-include itong weightlifting sa Palarong Pambansa,” she added. This year, there are 70 athletes from nine regions competing across 10 weight divisions at the Laoag Central Elementary School.