Filipino figure skater Michael Christian Martinez has withdrawn from next week's Junior World Championships in Bulgaria.
The lone Filipino olympian in the Sochi Olympics winter games 2014, Martinez only followed the decision of his coaches and doctors who wanted him to pull out of the tournament, according to his mother Teresa.
Meanwhile, for the first time since the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Martinez went through 6 hours of training and practice last Wednesday.
In an interview, Martinez said that not practicing for a long time can have negative effects on skaters.
“It's getting better, I'm starting to get the jumps a little bit but it's not enough. For figure skating, kailangan talaga only up to 2 days, 1-day rest or 2 days. Maximum is 3 days. But if you exceeded that, it's like 'yung body memory, 'yung jumps mo, you couldn't do it anymore, 'yung spins mo, you will get dizzy easily,” he said.
Michael Christian Martinez, born November 4, 1996, is the first skater from Southeast Asia and figure skater from the tropical zone to qualify for the Olympics and the only athlete to represent the Philippines at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.--Source: ABS-CBN News/Image Sketch from Jojo