Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz successfully defended her Southeast Asian Games weightlifting crown in the women's 55kg division, edging fellow Olympic champion of Sanikun Tanasan of Thailand at the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi.
Unlike in Manila two years ago, when she was virtually unchallenged en route to her first SEA Games gold medal, Diaz had to fight off the challenge of Tanasan -- gold medalist in the women's 48kg division at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Tanasan has since moved up to Diaz's division but was unable to compete in Tokyo and Manila, after Thailand was banned from all weightlifting competitions due to doping violations.
Diaz lifted a total of 206kg, three kilos better than Tanasan, as she overcame a 1kg deficit in the snatch by ruling her favorite clean and jerk by a comfortable 4kg.
The Thai led after the snatch where she set a new SEA Games record with a lift of 93kg. This came moments after Diaz had broken her own record of 91kg with a lift of 92kg. Diaz attempted to go for 94kg on her third lift, but failed to complete it.
In the clean and jerk, Tanasan cleared 104 on her first lift and 110 on her second to bring her total to 203 and putting a little pressure on Diaz. But the Zamboanga native went for 114 right away on her first lift and cleared it to grab the overall lead with a 206 total.
This forced Tanasan to also go for 114 on her third lift but she couldn't even complete the clean, handing the gold medal to Diaz.
With the gold already in the bag, Diaz went for 118 on her second but couldn't pull it off. With nothing to lose, she went for 121 in an attempt to break her own SEA Games record of 120, but again fell short.
Diaz's total of 206 in Hanoi was below her 211 in Manila and way below her Olympic record of 224 in Tokyo.
Indonesia's Natasya Beteyob claimed the bronze with a total of 188kg to edge out hometown bet Nguyen Thu Hien.
Earlier, Rosegie Ramos won the bronze in the women's 49kg. Mary Flor Diaz, Hidilyn's cousin, finished fourth in the women's 45kg, while Fernando Agad, Jr. and Rowel Garcia likewise missed out on podium finishes in the men's 55kg and men's 61kg divisions, respectively.
Several other Filipino lifters, led by Rio Olympian Nestor Colonia, were set to vie for more medals at posting time.