MANILA, Philippines -- Figure skater Michael Christian Martinez, the first Filipino to compete in the Winter Olympics, is raising funds to aid his quest to qualify for the Beijing Games in 2022.

On his official Facebook account, Martinez declared himself "officially back on ice" after a long hiatus from the sport.

"I am aiming to qualify once again for the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on February 4-20, 2022," he said.

Martinez said he is currently training in the United States with his coach, Nikolai Morozov, and is looking to participate in the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany this September. The competition serves as an Olympic qualifier.

To aid his campaign, Martinez's camp has set up a GoFundMe with a goal of reaching $50,000. As of this writing, a total of $1,000 have been donated.

According to Geoffried Viz, who set up the page, they are spending some $16,000 per month for Martinez's training. Martinez has said that he does not have any sponsors at the moment.

"We are hoping to raise $50,000 to help some of his training expenses towards his journey to the 2022 Winter Olympics," said Viz.

Martinez competed in the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics. In between, he represented the Philippines in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, winning a silver medal.

But he took a break after the 2018 Winter Games, and did not compete in the 2019 SEA Games at home. It was reported that Martinez did not do any competitive skating in 2019.

Martinez finished 19th in Sochi in 2014 and 28th in Pyeongchang in 2018.