Lifter Colonia eyes gold in 2017 SEA Games

WEIGHTLIFTER Nestor Colonia hopes to win the gold medal in the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia next month.

The 25-year-old native of Zamboanga City will be facing world-class athletes from Thailand and Vietnam in the tournament that will be held in Kuala Lumpur on August 19-30.

"Syempre, gold medal ang target ko. Pero malakas ang mga kalaban ko dun (SEA Games). Parang hindi nga SEA Games ang pupuntahan ko, parang Olympics (Of course, I'm targeting the gold medal. However, my opponents in the SEA Games are strong. It's like I'm going to the Olympics instead of the SEA Games)," said Colonia in an interview on Thursday.

Colonia, an enlisted member of the Philippine Air Force, is entered in the men's 56 kg. category where he will be up against fellow 2016 Rio Summer Olympics competitors, Sinphet Kruaithon of Thailand and Tr?n Lê Qu?c Toàn of Vietnam. The Thai won the bronze while the Vietnamese finished fifth.

The weightlifting competition is slated to be held at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibit Center (MITEC) on August 28-30.

The Malaysia SEA Games will be Colonia's second since the 2011 edition cohosted by Palembang and Jakarta in Indonesia, where he finished fourth.

This year, Colonia's only competition was the one organized by 2016 Olympics silver medalist, Hidilyn Diaz. Colonia won the gold medal in the 1st Hidilyn Diaz Weightlifting Open Championship held at the Meralco Fitness Center in Ortigas last July 8-9.

Colonia, whose uncle Gregorio Colonia competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, was a gold medalist in the 2015 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Phuket, Thailand. He also won the clean and jerk bronze medal at the 2015 Wo rl d Weightlifting Championships in Houston, Texas and the 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. PNA