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| The four gold medalists of the Asian Games arrived home. Ivan Saldajeno |
By Ivan Saldajeno
PASAY--The Filipino sports fans are in for one interesting Asian Games.
The Philippines already overachieved in this year's edition in the quadrennial meet, scoring three golds so far.
What made the already successful gold hunt special, however, is that all the top finishes were made by girls.
Hidilyn Diaz led the charge by winning the women's under-53 kilogram women's weightlifting competition just last week.
[Related Story: Hidilyn Diaz amasses first gold medal for PH]
Then on Sunday, 17-year-old Yuka Saso bagged the women's individual golf gold while conniving with Bianca Pagdanganan, the eventual bronze medalist in the said tournament, and Kaye Go for the women's team gold.
[Related Story: Saso and company rule Asiad golf as PH gets 2 more golds]
For Diaz, the three Asiad golds is a big boost to one of the things the modern-day women are advocating about.
"Siyempre yung impact noon, [sa] women empowerment," she said on Tuesday night upon her arrival from Jakarta.
Explaining how she thought such, Diaz said, "Naipakita namin na kaya talaga din naming mga babae na makipaglaban sa iba't-ibang bansa.... Di ba dati, iba yung tingin [sa] babae. Kahit sa akin noong nag-start ako, [sabi nila], 'Wag ka dyan. Sa bahay ka lang. Di ka pwede dyan. Baka maging macho ka.' Parang nagbago yun dahil kaya pala ng mga babae."
She even believes, "Mga babae na talaga ngayon ang nagdadala."
Diaz, Saso, Pagdanganan, and Go flew back here from Jakarta via Philippine Airlines Flight PR 540. They landed at the NAIA Terminal 2 at around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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