Lifter John Ceniza is confident about his chances of climbing up the podium with the Paris Olympics just over a month from now.

The 26-year-old Cebuano is ready to take on the challenge of going head-to-head against defending champion Li Fabin of China and Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Eko Yuli Irawan of Indonesia in his Summer Games debut.

“It’s going to be challenging but we don’t know what will happen in the future,” Ceniza said at the sidelines of an Olympics sendoff event Thursday in Makati City.

“Anyone can be at the top now but it doesn’t mean it will always be that way,” he added.

Ceniza booked a ticket to Paris after finishing fifth place in the International Weightlifting Federation rankings.

His best lift was at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships in Riyadh where he registered a total lift of 300 kilograms.

Ceniza also expressed gratitude to former Olympian Nestor Colonia for inspiring him to achieve his dream of stepping on the mat of the biggest multi-sports competition in the world.

“Nestor saw that I wanted to make it to the Olympics and told me that I can do it,” Ceniza said of the 2015 Asian Weightlifting Championships gold medalist.

Colonia was the last male weightlifter to represent the country in the Olympics when he saw action in the 2016 Rio edition.

“He would teach me what I needed to do. He always believed I would make it into Paris,” Ceniza said.

It turns out that Colonia was right on the money on Ceniza.