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Source: gmanews.tv

-- Swimmer Miguel Molina was man enough to admit he’s not up to the task this time as far as his campaign for mints in the 25th Southeast Asian Games is concerned.

Molina said he isn't prepared now as he was two years ago when he won four gold medals and emerged as the Most Outstanding Male Athlete of the SEA Games.

That feat of him in Nakhonratchasima, Thailand was but among the few bright spots for Team Philippines then.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t see himself duplicating the same thing.

“I try not to think about it, but I just want to focus and be realistic with myself," he said minutes after departing with the main bulk of Team Philippines for this landlocked country located in the heart of the Indochinese peninsula.

“I think I can win maybe at least one, hopefully from (the) relay."

Molina is entered in the 200-meter individual medley, 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter breastroke, the 4x200 medley relay and the 200-meter freestyle, his pet event.

But the standout swimmer out of University of California-Berkeley said it’s the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China next year – and not the SEA Games –which he’s concentrating in right now.

“My main focus is the Asian Games. I’m not trying to overlook the SEA Games, but I think I had better training and was more prepared in the past. Maybe I feel a little uncertain in my performance right now," he said.

The 25-year-old Molina, who donned the country’s color in the Beijing Olympics last year, added that shortly after the World Championship in August, he took a month-long lay-off and didn’t begin training again until October.

It was around that time when he bagged a silver medal in the 3rd Asian Indoor Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, yielding the gold to Radomyos Matijur of Thailand in the 200-meter individual medley.

“I started training only last October. I started training on my own, but it wasn’t intense," said Molina.

“They can expect my best, but who knows where that will bring me. I can’t control other swimmers. You never know, someone must be training hard, someone must peak, you’ll never know," he added.